President’s office considers logical suspension of the chairman of the board of directors of Ukreximbank for the investigation period

The Cabinet of the President of Ukraine fully supports the public condemnation of the actions of the management of the state bank Ukreximbank, which attacked the journalists of the program Schemes TV during the recording of an interview in the building of bank, and considers it logical to suspend the chairman of the board of directors of Ukreximbank, Yevhen Metzger, while the incident is under investigation.

According to the press service of the head of state, a statement was made by the adviser to the chief of staff of President Mykhailo Podoliak.

“The situation around Ukreximbank can only be viewed negatively. Of course, the pattern of behavior that the company has seen from representatives of the bank is unacceptable. Freedom of expression is one of the core values ​​in Ukraine. Therefore, the duty of officials at all levels is to communicate properly with journalists and respect their right to ask any question of public importance, ”Podoliak said.

He noted that it does not matter what level of structure this establishment occupies and whether it operates in the public or private sector.

“The rules for respecting journalistic work and the formats for accessing socially important information have been drawn up for a long time, and there can be no reason not to observe them,” said the adviser to the president’s chief of staff.

It is noteworthy that to date, the National Police and the Supervisory Board of Ukreximbank have made relevant statements. In particular, the national police, as part of the criminal proceedings initiated, analyze all the circumstances of the incident, and the supervisory board announced that an audit had been carried out under the rules approved for the state bank. .

“In addition, at the level of the supervisory board and in accordance with the procedures of the bank, a moderation of the evolution of this situation for the financial institution may take place,” said the office of the president.

They add that, at the very least, the decision to remove the chairman of the bank’s board of directors from his post seems logical, “so that there is not a single obstacle, however hypothetical, to the investigation. and verification “.

“At most to level the damage, the bank and the state may need stricter personnel decisions in a financial institution. Institutional mechanisms to get out of this situation are being considered, and they must work, ”said the president’s office.

As Radio Liberty reported earlier, on Monday, October 4, the film crew of the TV show Skhemy (Schemes) was attacked during an interview with the chairman of the board of directors of Ukreximbank, Yevhen. Metzger, allegedly because of one of the questions they didn’t like. According to Schemes manager Natalia Sedletska, bank employees took away two cameras, took away the cards on which the recording was made and deleted the recorded video. According to journalists, throughout this time, the film crew remained locked in the office of the president of the bank’s management board in his presence. An hour later, the material was returned to the film crew, but video of the entire interview and the attack itself was deleted.

Kyiv police said that at the request of journalists, necessary investigative measures are taken, criminal proceedings have been initiated under part 1 of article 171 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code – obstruction of legitimate professional activities journalists.

Ukreximbank dismissed the charges of breaking the law and in turn accused them of provocation and attempting to seize bank secrets. According to the financial institution, the journalists’ actions contained signs of both the illegal seizure of banking secrets and the violation of a Ukrainian journalist’s code of ethics in terms of using illegal methods to obtain information.

The bank said that in this situation, it was considering the possibility of contacting law enforcement agencies and bodies regulating activities in the field of television and radio broadcasting.

Metzger was appointed chairman of the bank’s board in March 2020. The chairman of the financial institution’s supervisory board is an independent member Oliana Hordiyenko. Dimitri Chichlo, Serhiy Konovets, Dominique Menu and Laszlo Urban are also independent members of the Supervisory Board. The Cabinet of Ministers is represented by Yuriy Butsa, the Verkhovna Rada by Yuriy Terentyev and the President’s Cabinet by Viktoria Strakhova.

According to the National Bank of Ukraine, as of June 1, 2021, Ukreximbank ranked third in terms of total assets (252.350 billion UAH) out of 73 banks operating in the country.