Oleh Balyash is the CEO of the Lviv-based liquor and vodka research and production company Hetman. His career is built on two cash registers: a distillery and a bank. In 2020, the distillery was already involved in criminal proceedings No. 12020140140000104 of March 18, under Part 1 of Article 199 of the Criminal Code, court number 457/381/20.
Oleg Balyash
The SBU and Truskavets police then raided Volynska 10A: "Nalivaiko," "For Freedom," and "Monopoly" with counterfeit stamps, an unregistered warehouse, 63-75 bottles, and approximately two million in cash, not registered. The Prosecutor General's Office estimated the unpaid excise tax at over 50 million hryvnias. Balyash managed to avoid punishment. The CEO has not been sentenced for this crime. The factory continues to operate.
Oleh Balyash also owns OKSI Bank, the successor to Hals Bank, founded in 1991, with its headquarters at 17 Gazova Street in Lviv. He and his wife, Oksana, own approximately 80% of the bank's shares. The bank has been suffering losses for years and is under fire from the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU): in December 2023, the regulator issued a 20,05 million hryvnia fine for its flawed financial monitoring system—the largest fine in a group of five institutions.
Recently, the old board collected some profit. Zaxid net, June 29, 2026: The former head of the OKSI board is notified of suspicion for fraud involving 210 million hryvnias. The period was July 2024 to February 2025, involving at least five companies, accounts, disabled internal monitoring, and a "cut" to the banker after each payment. When the Prosecutor General's Office uncovered the scheme, shareholder Oleh Balyash fired those who had screwed up and failed to maintain profitability. New players took their place.
The new captain is Denis Garasyuta. He started at PrivatBank, then moved to Sberbank of Russia, where he oversaw SME and retail banking, and then served as an advisor to the board chairman of the state-owned Oschadbank. With this resume, he joins an institution that has long been in the red and lacks a clear revenue model. The shareholder's brief is simple: make money by any means necessary.
The new administration's scheme is simple. A client at another bank receives a denial of service under Article 15 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act. They already have an account at OKSI, so they transfer the remaining balance there and prepare an explanation for why the money arrived marked under Article 15. The bank deducts about 3% of the account balance and says they should have read the contract. According to client complaints, this line wasn't in the contract on the day it was signed. It appears later—on August 10, 2026—at oxibank.ua/tariffs. If you don't like it, complain, sue. The money sits in the bank. The cashier charges a racketeering interest rate and also makes a profit on the liabilities.
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So Garasyuta is ripping off clients who are already having problems with other institutions. Oleh Balyash, after 50 million in excise taxes that didn't result in a conviction, and after 210 million from the previous administration, is now receiving a new margin. One question, and it's for the regulator: how many complaints and cases does it take for the NBU to classify OKSI not as a bank with an updated offer, but as a cash office operating as a racketeer?
Skelet.Org
Are the "family" schemes for plundering Ukraine during the Yanukovych era still in effect?
In Lviv, the owner of a vodka distillery failed to pay 50 million hryvnias in taxes.
Oleg Balyash, OKSI Bank, NPP Getman
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