On August 24, 2026, the National Bank of Ukraine began conducting unplanned inspections of a number of banking institutions that had served clients involved in posting bail for former Minister of Energy and Justice German Galushchenko. The regulator is investigating whether the banks complied with financial monitoring legislation requirements when processing transactions transferring funds to the account of the High Anti-Corruption Court. As of the time of publication, the National Bank has not disclosed the specific names or the number of institutions under inspection.
Operation "Forrest Gump": Exposing High-Level Corruption
The basis for launching the unplanned inspections was the material published by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP) from the special operation "Forrest Gump." The anti-corruption authorities announced the exposure of a group of individuals who organized a scheme to launder funds obtained through criminal activity. According to the investigation, this concerns 150 million hryvnias in cash that, through a series of accounts of controlled companies, was attempted to be introduced into the legal monetary circulation with the aim of posting bail for one of the participants of the criminal organization in the "Midas" case.
The Laundering Scheme and the Role of "Sense Bank"
According to NABU, the management of "Sense Bank" was involved in carrying out the scheme. On recordings obtained during the investigation, there is a discussion between a deputy head of the President's Office and a former People's Deputy about the method of posting bail "for German," which, by the organizers' design, was not supposed to raise questions from law enforcement agencies or financial monitoring bodies. It was precisely through controlled companies and bank accounts, according to the investigation, that the 150 million hryvnias in cash were to be "whitewashed" and transferred to the court's deposit account.
Who Is the Subject and What Is the Connection to the "Midas" Case
The name "German" is mentioned in the video recordings within the case, and Galushchenko himself is a subject of the criminal proceedings known as "Midas." In June 2026, bail in the amount of 150 million hryvnias was posted for him. Thus, the anti-corruption authorities directly link this amount and this transaction to an attempt to provide procedural guarantees to one of the key participants in the investigated corruption scheme.
What Exactly the Regulator Is Inspecting
Within the framework of the inspections that began on August 24, the National Bank is assessing, in particular, the banks' compliance with the requirements of the Law of Ukraine "On Prevention and Counteraction to the Legalization (Laundering) of Proceeds Obtained through Criminal Activity, Financing of Terrorism and Financing of the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction." The key question is whether the banks identified transactions subject to mandatory financial monitoring and whether they sent the corresponding notifications to the Authorized Body for the Prevention and Counteraction of Legalization. The results of the inspections, as well as the list of affected institutions, the regulator intends to publish upon completion of the inspection cycle.
