Looting at the National Bank of Ukraine: how banker Shcherban and official Nikolaychuk siphon millions through schemes involving Ukrenergo

Another scandal has emerged around Alliance Bank and Pavel Shcherban, involving accusations of potential influence on the NBU, corruption ties, and involvement in the Ukrenergo fund-siphoning case.

Corruption accusations , multi-billion-dollar scandals, and shadowy influence at the NBU: a new high-profile conflict is unfolding around Alliance Bank and its alleged informal leader, Pavel Shcherban. While law enforcement officials investigate the withdrawal of Ukrenergo funds, reports have surfaced online of Shcherban’s attempts to "buy" the regulator’s loyalty through Deputy NBU Governor Serhiy Nikolaychuk. Is this tandem truly motivated by a desire to replace the NBU’s leadership, and what "cleaned-up" connections could lead to high-ranking positions at Bankova Street? The StopKor team investigated.

Recently, the Telegram channel "Joker" published a series of messages containing explosive accusations against First Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Serhiy Nikolaychuk and Alliance Bank employee Pavel  Shcherban. The channel’s author claims that Nikolaychuk is allegedly covering for Shcherban and receives $150,000 monthly from him for his protection at the NBU.

Furthermore, the publications claim that over the past six months, Serhiy Nikolaychuk, along with Pavel Shcherban, have allegedly been orchestrating information attacks against NBU Governor Andrey Pyshnyy, whom they nickname "Deaf." The channel’s author also writes that Nikolaychuk is spreading information about Pyshnyy’s possible dismissal and is vying for the position of head of the National Bank.

Alliance Bank: A History of Billion-Hryvnia Scandals

Alliance Bank is small in size, but its number of scandals rivals many major market players. The most high-profile case concerns the embezzlement of funds from NEC Ukrenergo, which is being investigated by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU).

like According to NABU, the scheme went this: In the fall of 2021, Alliance Bank issued bank guarantees to United Energy for almost UAH 2 billion.

The company is being linked by market participants and media outlets close to Ihor Kolomoisky. The bank guarantee mechanism itself is simple: if the buyer cannot pay for the goods, the bank pays for them. This principle underpins the trust placed in such instruments worldwide. However, in March 2022, United Energy failed to pay Ukrenergo for the electricity it received, as reported on the NABU website.

When the state-owned company approached the bank to fulfill its guarantee obligations, Alliance refused to pay, citing formal grounds. As a result, the state suffered multi-million-dollar losses. Depending on the calculation methodology and the accounting of penalties, this amounts to between 700 million and 1.7 billion hryvnias.

The NABU investigation uncovered another interesting detail: the volume of guarantees issued exceeded the credit risk standards per client. This is why the criminal case targeted not only United Energy’s management and Ukrenergo officials, but also the bank’s management itself. Investigators therefore paid particular attention to the bank’s chairperson, Yulia Frolova. According to law enforcement, her decision to issue the guarantees could have led to damage to the state. Frolova is currently abroad, and NABU has placed her on an international wanted list.

However, the Ukrenergo case is far from the only scandal surrounding the bank. In 2024, another high-profile case erupted. Alexey Nosov, a lawyer at the Miller law firm who represented Alliance Bank, was charged with attempted bribery of $200,000. Investigators believe this was an attempt to influence the investigation and have the case transferred to another law enforcement agency.

The bank itself categorically denies any involvement in these actions. However, it is difficult to believe that such a risky operation could have been carried out solely on the lawyer’s personal initiative, without the client’s knowledge. This remains a key issue in the case today.

Against this backdrop, the question naturally arises: who is behind a bank that has been embroiled in high-profile scandals, billion-hryvnia lawsuits, and criminal proceedings for years, yet continues to operate in the market without significant consequences for its business?

Deleted references and inconvenient connections: what lies behind the story of Shcherban and Shurma

Formally, the largest shareholder of the Alliance Bank is Alexander Sosis.

However, it’s long been an open secret among bankers that Pavel Shcherban exercises a key influence over the bank’s operations. Moreover, he’s considered the man who protects the bank from regulators’ claims and excessive law enforcement scrutiny. And it’s not just his position or his shareholding. His close relationship with Rostislav Shurma, the former deputy head of the Presidential Office, is considered his main asset.

What does Shurma have to do with this? The answer, it seems, lies in the banker’s other business ventures. And interestingly, Rostislav Shurma’s influence is evident behind many of them.

First and foremost, this concerns the gas production company Viva Exploration . Formally, it is owned by Shcherban and geologist Sergei Dumenko through the Cypriot company IF Exploration Company Limited.

The company holds a license for geological exploration and oil and gas production in the Staromizunska field in the Ivano-Frankivsk region until 2033. Before the full-scale war, plans were underway to restore old wells and increase production. However, the project failed to deliver the expected results. Furthermore, its financial statements show losses of approximately $1 million as of the end of 2023.

Meanwhile, investment in the company continues, for some reason. This raises a logical question: is Shcherban really the main investor here, and not his "godfather," Rostislav Shurma?

Another asset that may point to the interests of the Deputy Head of the Presidential Office is a grain elevator in Khorol, Poltava Oblast, registered to Alliance Elevator LLC. Although the facility is in need of renovation and is not considered a major market player, it is apparently being viewed as a first step toward a larger presence in the agricultural sector. This is especially true given that demand for grain storage in Ukraine remains consistently high.

As Rassledovatel writes , IT business is a separate area. A whole pool of companies has already formed around Shcherban: Alliance Digital, ASJS, APL, and Motvel. Some of them are developing products for the banking sector, while others work with retail chains and digital services. And this is precisely where Shurma’s potential interest lies. He has long been associated with promoting digital solutions in the economy and ambitions to strengthen his own influence on digital transformation. In this case, Shcherban’s IT assets could be not just a business, but also the foundation for creating his own ecosystem of digital projects.

The "investigator" hints that this motley business empire doesn’t mesh well with the role of chairman of the supervisory board of a bank that has been going through difficult times for a long time. Therefore, two options are possible: either Alliance Bank isn’t a key asset for Shcherban, or a significant portion of these projects are merely an investment portfolio, in which he acts not as a manager but as a passive investor. This raises another question: whose funds are actually behind these assets?

However, information about Rostislav Shurma’s connections isn’t easy to find online. After all, strangely enough, all the websites have been scrubbed clean. This is what the information looks like in a search.

But after the page was opened, things were different. That is, all information about the possible connection between Pavel Shcherban and Rostislav Shurma effectively disappeared from public view.

Gontareva, Rozhkova and Nikolaychuk: Continuity of Interests

Another interesting figure in this story is the current deputy governor of the NBU, Serhiy Nikolaychuk. His name was also mentioned by the Telegram channel "Joker," which called Nikolaychuk "Gontareva and Rozhkova’s man."

Valeriy Gontarev also makes no secret of her positive attitude toward Nikolaychuk. In an interview with Glavkom, she called his appointment "the best one the National Bank has made in the last two years" and one of Ukraine’s best macroeconomists.

"I believe this is the best appointment the National Bank has made in the last two years. Because Serhiy is one of the best macroeconomists in Ukraine," Gontareva noted.

Interestingly, Nikolaychuk actually worked at the National Bank during the period when Valeria Gontareva and Ekaterina Rozhkova occupied key positions within the regulator.

In 2025, Serhiy Nikolaychuk replaced Kateryna Rozhkova on the NBU board. And this isn’t a story about a new person entering the system. Prior to this, they worked side by side for over a decade, through successive leaderships of the National Bank, governments, and presidents. Perhaps this is why Rozhkova’s words about how she worked best under Gontareva and Smoliy sound quite different today.

Therefore, he remains one of the few NBU officials who manages to retain influential positions regardless of changes in the regulator’s leadership and political power in the country.

So, the information that appeared on the Telegram channel "Joker" likely reveals the state of affairs in the financial sector: is the Nikolaychuk-Shcherban tandem working to remove Andriy Pyshnyy from his position as head of the NBU?

The Ukrenergo case involving billions of hryvnias, the suspected attempted bribe of $200,000, Pavel Shcherban’s business connections, references to Rostyslav Shurma, and the accusations made public by the Telegram channel "Joker" against Serhiy Nikolayevich all come together to form a larger picture. The truth of the individual allegations and who is truly behind these cases remains to be determined by the competent authorities. However, it is already clear that there are more questions than answers surrounding Alliance Bank and its associated entities.

The editorial team has already sent inquiries to the National Bank of Ukraine regarding the regulator’s position on the activities of JSC Bank Alliance, the existence of claims against the bank by the NBU, the results of its inspections, and the enforcement actions taken against it.

Also, in JSC Bank Alliance regarding the bank’s position on the legal disputes, criminal proceedings, and information about the activities and role of Pavel Shcherban mentioned in the material.

Inquiries regarding the current status of criminal proceedings involving Alliance Bank or its officials have been sent to the NABU.

We are awaiting a response and continue to monitor events around the bank.