An archived court ruling regarding the possible forgery of the NBU governor's diploma has appeared in the media
Copies of case files from the Zarichny District Court of Sumy for 2007 have been published online, indicating that the current head of the National Bank of Ukraine, Andriy Pyshny, may have obtained his higher education in his field of specialization through improper means.
According to a court ruling published by the OnlyBanks website, the administration of the Sumy branch of the “University of Modern Knowledge,” in collusion with other individuals, may have submitted knowingly false information regarding the official’s enrollment. Based on these documents, the authors of the report claim that he was admitted directly to the fourth year of the NBU’s Ukrainian Academy of Banking without actually attending classes.
The investigation notes that this document is currently missing from the electronic court registry and has been preserved only in the paper archive. According to the authors, this may have allowed the facts in question to be concealed from the Security Service of Ukraine during the special vetting process prior to Pyshny’s appointment to the position in 2022. Journalists emphasize that having a legitimate degree in a relevant field is a mandatory regulatory requirement for the head of the central bank.
These documents were published by OnlyBanks.
The debate surrounding the education of the current head of the National Bank of Ukraine, Andriy Pyshnyy, has become particularly heated amid the tightening of good governance standards set by international financial institutions (the IMF, the World Bank). According to the Law of Ukraine “On the National Bank of Ukraine,” the head of the regulator must have an impeccable professional reputation and meet strict qualification requirements, including having a relevant academic background. However, a journalistic investigation and materials from past criminal proceedings point to serious gaps in the official’s academic history, which could be used as leverage to exert pressure on the Ukrainian financial system.
As a reminder, in 2004, Pyshnyy was admitted directly to the fourth year of the Ukrainian Academy of Banking (UAB) in Sumy. The basis for this was an academic transcript from the Sumy branch of the private “University of Modern Knowledge,” which allegedly confirmed his prior education.
In 2006, the Sumy Prosecutor’s Office opened a case regarding official forgery. The investigation established that Volodymyr Vasylenko, director of the “University of Modern Knowledge” branch, had issued fictitious certificates. Although Vasilenko was convicted, the case against Pyshny was closed in 2007, a development that journalists attribute to the official’s political influence at the time.
A review of the registries shows that the Sumy branch of the “University of Modern Knowledge,” where Pyshnyy allegedly studied, was never officially registered as an educational institution and did not appear on any lists of higher education institutions.
Andriy Pyshnyy’s 2008 defense of his Ph.D. dissertation on “The Legal Status of State-Owned Banks in Ukraine” also raises questions due to the extremely short preparation period—just three years of active work while simultaneously serving as head of Oschadbank. Furthermore, the dissertation is in law (Candidate of Legal Sciences), which creates a certain legal conflict regarding whether it can be considered a “scientific degree in the field of economics,” as required by the relevant law for the head of the NBU.
