NBU ex-head Shevchenko claims political pressure, rejects accusations against him

MOSCOW. Oct 7 (Interfax) - Former Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Kirill Shevchenko said that he had been subject to political pressure for two years, which he said caused his health to deteriorate and was the reason behind his resignation.

"When I announced my decision to resign, I [...] decided to name only one of the reasons for my resignation - the deterioration of my health. I did not talk about the almost two years of political pressure that intensified before my decision, and, in fact, led to the worsening of my health problems. I was not a comfortable head of the NBU," Ukrainian media outlets quoted Shevchenko as saying on social media.

Shevchenko said that the notification of suspicion from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office came as a surprise to him, describing the unveiled facts as the result of premature conclusions drawn on the basis of hasty and unsubstantiated judgments.

"I am ready to bear responsibility for every signature, since every agreement signed by Ukrgasbank during my tenure was 100% market-based," he said.

All financial operations of the bank were confirmed by forensic and diagnostic investigations of PwC, he said.

"I consider it a sign of political persecution and of settling the scores that the criminal case, which is already 3.5 years old, and has not been investigated over all of these years, has not been revived," Shevchenko said.

Meanwhile, the press service of Ukrgasbank has denied media reports that chairman of the bank's board Andrei Kravets has also received a notification of suspicion.

"The incumbent chairman of the Ukrgasbank board Andrei Nikolayevich Kravets has not received any notification of suspicion and was not involved in the developments destroyed in press release of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office," the bank said.

Ukrgasbank also added that it carried out inspections with the help of internationally recognized auditing companies and did not find the violations it has been accused of by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office.