Ukraine anti-corruption court orders central bank to investigate blocked bail payments

Why it matters

The ruling compels Ukraine's central bank to investigate and potentially unblock court-ordered bail payments in the country's highest-profile anti-corruption cases, directly affecting the rights of detainees. Human rights organizations say the practice — with banks reportedly refusing sums as small as 10 UAH — makes the right to bail illusory and may violate the European Convention on Human Rights and Ukraine's Constitution. The case touches on suspects in the NABU/SAP "Forrest Gump" investigation, including former senior presidential official Iryna Mudra and MP Vadym Stoliar, raising the question of whether informal pressure is being applied to anti-corruption courts. Because the investigating judge's ruling is final and not subject to appeal, the NBU is bound to act within 24 hours.

What happened

On 24 September, an investigating judge of the High Anti-Corruption Court granted a defense complaint by Iryna Mudra challenging banks' refusal to process her bail payment. The court ruled that such refusals may violate the rights of the detainee and ordered the National Bank of Ukraine within 24 hours to verify whether banks are blocking bail payments to HACC accounts. If the refusals are found to be groundless, the NBU is required to take measures to ensure the payments are completed. The NBU must also transmit to the court and the defense all of its correspondence and recommendations to banks regarding bail payments, as well as reports of mass refusals. The ruling is final and not subject to appeal.

The complaint was preceded by a joint demand from six human rights organizations — the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, the Ukrainian Institute for Human Rights, the Center for Civil Liberties, the Helsinki Human Rights Union civic community, the charitable foundation "Man and Law," and the all-Ukrainian charitable organization "Ukrainian Legal Aid Foundation" — calling on the NBU to stop the practice. The groups said banks are rejecting bail payments of 10, 100 and 1,000 UAH, as well as payments by lawyers and relatives, on the sole ground that the payment purpose references bail and the recipient is an HACC account.

Mudra, a former deputy head of the Office of the President who was dismissed by President Volodymyr Zelensky on 19 August, was ordered by the HACC on 25 August to be held in detention with an alternative of 20 million UAH bail. She deposited 5 million UAH of her own funds before her accounts were seized; banks then refused her husband's attempt to pay the remainder. SAP prosecutors said she may hold assets exceeding 250 million UAH and had asked the court to set bail at 150 million UAH. MP Vadym Stoliar, another suspect in the same "Forrest Gump" case, said he could post 300 million UAH in bail, but banks also refused those payments, and in some cases terminated their servicing agreements with him.

How Ukrainian sources describe it

All six supplied articles come from Ukrainian-language Ukrainian media, and they frame the story around the High Anti-Corruption Court compelling the NBU to act. Coverage centers domestic anti-corruption institutions — NABU, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP), and the HACC — and high-profile Ukrainian political figures including Iryna Mudra, Vadym Stoliar, Maksym Mykytas, Viktor Dubovyk, Valentyn Yelizarov and Herman Halushchenko. Most titles lead with the court's 24 September order as the news hook and foreground the contradiction between banks' informal explanations and the NBU's public denials; one earlier piece leads with the human rights groups' joint statement.

Where reporting differs

Banks, according to ZN.UA sources, say they refuse bail payments to HACC accounts because of NBU recommendations or instructions, while the NBU publicly states there is "no manual interference," that it does not itself block payments, and calls reports that 15 banks refused "after a call from the NBU" absurd. People's deputy Olha Vasylevska-Smahliuk has questioned whether the investigating judge's order to the NBU is enforceable, citing prior rulings by the Supreme Court's Grand Chamber and Cass Criminal Court that the Criminal Procedure Code does not provide for an investigating judge's ruling authorizing a check. Human rights organizations and defense lawyers say the sole trigger for refusals is that the payment purpose contains the word "bail" and the recipient is an HACC account; banks officially cite "internal rules" as the legal basis for refusal.

Background

On 19 August, NABU and the SAP announced the "Forrest Gump" special operation, which they described as exposing a large-scale corruption scheme including the alleged takeover of the state-owned Sense Bank and the legalization of 150 million UAH in cash intended as bail for a suspect in the "Midas" case, identified in one fact as former Minister of Energy and Justice Herman Halushchenko. Figures in the "Forrest Gump" case include former deputy head of the Office of the President Iryna Mudra, current MP Vadym Stoliar, former MP Maksym Mykytas, Valentyn Yelizarov and Office of the President General Director for Legal Issues Viktor Dubovyk. On 19 August, President Zelensky signed a decree dismissing Mudra from her post. On 25 August, the HACC selected detention with an alternative of 20 million UAH bail as Mudra's preventive measure; SAP prosecutors said she may hold assets exceeding 250 million UAH and had requested bail of 150 million UAH.