Presidential Office "shield": Rostislav Shurma and Pavel Shcherban delete mentions of their corrupt ties to Bank Alliance
The moment investigations exposed Rostislav Shurma and Pavel Shcherban’s role in Alliance Bank’s schemes, the information space went into lockdown. Unflattering articles vanish overnight, lawyers churn out complaints, and search engines are systematically purged of any compromising results.
We are publishing the material that troubles them so much — with facts, names, and schemes they are trying to whitewash.
Recently, media outlets have repeatedly reported scandals involving the small Alliance Bank. The loudest one concerns a bribe that lawyer Alexey Nosov of the legal company Miller was supposed to deliver on behalf of the bank to detectives of NABU and prosecutors of SAPO in a case involving damages to Ukrenergo. In addition, media reported numerous fines from the National Bank for violations of financial monitoring rules, failure to meet guarantee obligations to state-owned companies, and submission of inaccurate financial statements.
Yet the bank remains afloat. Why? The reason may lie in a secret patron — Deputy Head of the Office of the President Rostislav Shurma. Thanks to close relations with Pavel Shcherban, Chairman of the bank’s Supervisory Board, Shurma may be able to fend off regulatory pressure from the National Bank and provide protection for the bank before law-enforcement agencies.
The real owner
Formally, according to the Unified Register of Enterprises and data on ultimate beneficial owners submitted by Alliance Bank to the National Bank, the key shareholder is Alexander Sosis, former Chairman of the Management Board of ASKA Insurance Company owned by Rinat Akhmetov. However, market participants have long known who makes the truly important decisions — Supervisory Board Chairman Pavel Pavlovich Shcherban.
According to open sources, Shcherban has worked in banking for about 18 years. He began at a branch of Prominvestbank in Kremenchug as a senior retail lending economist. He later headed the dealing operations sector at Vladimirsky Bank. After the 2008–2009 crisis, Shcherban led dealing operations at Yuzhcombank, owned by Ruslan Tsyplakov, a racing associate of Viktor Yanukovich Jr.
After the Revolution of Dignity, when the bank collapsed, Shcherban became head of interbank operations at Apex Bank, and later briefly served as treasury head at Standard Bank, which also went bankrupt. In 2016 he joined Alliance Bank as a treasury dealer, then moved to Tascombank owned by Sergey Tigipko as deputy treasury head.
Since mid-2018, Shcherban has been directly involved with Alliance Bank — serving as deputy chairman, acting chairman of the management board, and since August 2021 as Supervisory Board Chairman. He is also a major shareholder: in July 2023 the Antimonopoly Committee allowed him to acquire more than 25% of shares, with the deal expected to close following a share issuance.
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Market sources say that despite Alexander Sosis holding a formal majority stake, real decisions are made by Pavel Shcherban. Moreover, he acts as a political shield protecting the bank from regulatory claims and law-enforcement interest in its controversial operations, including servicing a significant portion of the gambling industry.
Shcherban’s confidence is strengthened by his family ties with Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Rostislav Shurma. Shurma, whom Shcherban likely met around a decade ago while structuring complex transactions, allegedly guarantees the bank’s practical immunity despite regulatory breaches, scandals, and repeated financial monitoring fines that would normally trigger temporary administration.
According to market participants, Alliance Bank may function as a scheme-based bank for shadow financial flows — similar to the role once played by the state-owned Ukrgasbank. Unlike that institution, which was later cleaned up, no such reform appears likely at Alliance.
A partner in multiple ventures
Beyond family ties, Shurma’s connection may be reflected in Shcherban’s diversified business interests.
One example is the gas production company Viva Exploration, formally co-owned by Shcherban and geologist Sergey Dumenko via Cyprus-based I. F. Exploration Company Limited. The company holds a license for geological exploration and hydrocarbon extraction at the Staro-Mizun field in the Ivano-Frankovsk region until 2033. However, exploration has not been successful, and financial statements show losses of about $1 million as of late 2023 — raising questions about the real investor, potentially Rostislav Shurma.
Another asset is Alliance Elevator LLC in the city of Khorol, Poltava region. Despite its modest scale, the project is viewed as a starting point for deeper integration into the agricultural sector amid growing demand for grain storage.
A cluster of IT companies connected to Shcherban includes Alliance Digital LLC, Asids LLC, APL LLC, and Motvel LLC, focused largely on banking software solutions. The strategy resembles that of Monobank founders — building a diversified IT team serving multiple industries. Given Shurma’s known interest in digitalization and reported rivalry with Digital Transformation Vice Prime Minister Mikhail Fedorov, the cluster may serve as a foundation for broader ambitions.
Other ventures appear inactive, including Tabakos Trade LLC and Navium Nafta LLC, intended for scrap trading and petroleum imports respectively.