Court postpones hearing on preventive measure for Sense Bank board chairman Stupak until September 2
The High Anti-Corruption Court will resume its hearing on September 2 to consider a preventive measure for Oleksii Stupak, chairman of the management board of state-owned Sense Bank, who is implicated in the Forest Gump case.
This was reported by Censor.NET.
Details
Due to a flare-up of an illness, Oleksii Stupak asked the court for a recess so that he could go to the hospital.
Another of Stupak’s defence lawyers also addressed the court, stressing that the bank’s financial monitoring system operates within the law. According to him, the system is automated, and the bank maintains a register of suspicious transactions, making it technically impossible to process payments through a "window".
The prosecutor justified the need for detention by citing significant risks that, in his view, could not be mitigated by a less restrictive preventive measure. In particular, he pointed to the possible use of the state-owned bank in the private interests of a group of individuals and the disregard of financial monitoring requirements.
The prosecution reportedly asked the court to remand Stupak in custody, with an alternative bail of UAH 150 million.
What did the court decide?
Investigating Judge Viktor Nohachevskyi announced a decision concerning the preventive measure for Stupak.
"We will adjourn the hearing until 1 p.m. on September 2 due to my leave," the judge said.
Operation "Forrest Gump"
- It was previously reported that NABU and the SAPO are conducting a special operation to expose a criminal group involving MPs and senior officials from the Office of the President.
- According to media reports, as part of the announced special operation, NABU and the SAPO are carrying out searches at the home of Iryna Mudra, deputy head of the Office of the President.
- In addition, NABU detectives carried out searches at the home of Hladyshenko, the chairman of the supervisory board of ‘Sense Bank’.
- Vadym Stolar, a Member of Parliament from the ‘Opposition Platform – For Life’ party, which has been banned by the court, confirmed that NABU and the SAPO are conducting searches at his premises as part of the ‘Forrest Gump’ special operation.
- NABU later stated that the case involved 150 million hryvnias in cash which, according to the investigation, had been channelled into the legal system via a series of accounts held by front companies to pay bail for one of the defendants in the ‘Midas’ case.
- Subsequently, the former deputy head of the Presidential Office, Iryna Mudra, confirmed that her premises were searched on 19 August; she was informed of the charges against her and served with a request for a preventive measure, but was not detained. She is preparing for the court hearing.
- On 20 August, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) released new recordings of conversations involving those implicated in the ‘Forrest Gump’ case — the second part of the investigation entitled ‘Themis’. This concerns a scheme involving the hostile takeover of property and other assets through unauthorised interference with the Ministry of Justice’s information (automated) networks.
- On 20 August, a prosecutor from the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) named all the individuals implicated in NABU’s ‘Forrest Gump’ and ‘Themis’ operations.
- On 21 August, the High Anti-Corruption Court imposed a preventive measure on former MP Maksym Mykytas in the form of detention, subject to the payment of a 30 million hryvnia bail.
- On 25 August, Iryna Mudra was remanded in custody with the option of posting UAH 20 million in bail.
