Yevhen Metzger, the chairman of state-owned bank Ukreximbank, submitted his temporary resignation after being exposed aggressively obstructing journalists of investigative project Schemes.
Metzger will not perform his duties while his attack on a Schemes camera crew is investigated.
After strongly denying any wrongdoing and accusing journalists of intruding on banking privacy, the official on Oct. 6 issued a statement admitting his “excessively emotional reaction and immoderate behavior,” saying he has “no excuses.”
“I therefore immediately file a request of suspension as the board chairperson for the period of all necessary inquiries by the National Police and the bank’s internal investigation,” Metzger asserted.
He said he stepped down to “to neutralize the damage to the bank’s reputation, at least partially, and ease negative attitude towards the bank’s wonderful staff community.”
The incident occurred on Oct. 4 at the bank’s headquarters in Kyiv, when journalists Kirill Ovsyaniy and Oleksandr Mazur were recording an interview with Metzger as part of an anti-graft investigation.
Schemes is a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty project that airs on two TV channels in Ukraine and publishes its investigations online.
According to Scheme’s head Natalie Sedletska, a question posed by the journalists sparked an angry reaction from the chairman, who ordered his security service to seize and delete all data recorded by the journalists during the interview.
Metzger and his associates reportedly locked the journalists at the office for nearly an hour and threatened them. At the program’s request, the Kyiv police launched a criminal investigation into possible obstruction of media.
The incident immediately triggered a stir in Ukrainian media.
Ukreximbank denied taking any forceful actions and stated that the interview had to be terminated due to journalists posing questions on bank client information considered confidential.
Nonetheless, on Oct. 5, Schemes managed to restore and publish the deleted video. The recording plainly shows Metzger and his security team threatening the journalists and seizing their memory drives by force.
Schemes said the journalists are ready to provide the police with the restored data to prove its authenticity.
“Investigative journalists rarely ask comfortable questions to state officials,” Alexander Paraschiy, the head of research with investment bank Concorde Capital, said on Oct. 6.
“So Metzger should have been prepared for that when inviting them to his office. His behavior, as described by Sedletska, does not look compatible with the position of a top manager of one of the biggest state companies.”
Given Metzger’s good ties with President Volodymyr Zelensky, Concorde does not rule out the possibility that Metzger will keep his job and won’t be charged.
“In any case, we continue to assess the bank’s corporate governance practices as the weakest among the state-controlled banks. Ironically, this has not affected the bank’s bonds, as Ukreximbank remains well-capitalized and has bumper liquidity, as well as enjoys support on the highest government levels,” the expert added.
