OTP Bank Temporarily Removed from Ukrainian Blacklist

MTI-Hungary Today 2023.10.02.

The Ukrainian National Agency of Corruption Prevention (NACP) has temporarily removed Hungarian OTP Bank from the list of companies it considers war sponsors.

As the UNIAN Ukrainian news agency reports, the international war sponsor status has been temporarily suspended for OTP Bank and five Greek transport companies accused by Ukraine of illegally transporting Russian oil to circumvent the sanctions price ceiling. The decision of the removal was made following negotiations between representatives of the NACP and the companies and governments of these countries on the termination of cooperation with the Russian Federation.

The agency noted that in return, Hungary is expected to support the transfer of the European Peace Facility tranche of EUR 500 million.

Fact

The list of international war sponsors was compiled by NACP, Ukraine’s anti-corruption agency. Hungary’s OTP Bank has been on the list since the spring of 2023, because Ukrainian authorities claim that the bank continues to cooperate with Russia. One of the arguments is that, based on the information available of its financial results, the Russian subsidiary bank of OTP “made a profit of 113 million rubles in 2020 and paid a massive amount to the budget of the aggressor country – about 190 million rubles in income tax.” Moreover, NACP claims that the bank also provides preferential loans to the Russian soldiers. OTP refuted these accusations, and Hungarian constitutional lawyer Zoltán Lomnici Jr. pointed out that the bank does not provide loans to any members of the armed forces of the Russian Federation, on preferential terms or otherwise, and that its activities are in line with international sanctions.

Foreign affairs spokesman Máté Paloczai stated in a press release that there has been no substantial change with the temporary suspension of OTP’s international war sponsor status. Furthermore, he stressed that

as long as OTP is not removed from the list, Hungary will not contribute to any further EU funding for arms transfers to Ukraine.

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Via MTI, Featured image: Facebook/SHOPMARK