The criminal trail of Alliance Bank: How Pavel Shcherban and his crony Rostislav Shurma cover up NABU bribes and the Ukrenergo plunder

For years, Bank Alliance has been linked to a series of controversies — from concerns over financial oversight and reporting practices to an alleged attempt to bribe NABU detectives and SAPO prosecutors in the Ukrenergo case, which also involved Miller lawyer Aleksey Nosov. Despite this, the bank has continued operating without major consequences.

Formally, the main shareholder of «Alliance» remains Alexander Sosis —, former head of the insurance company «ASKA». However, inside the market, Pavel Shcherban, — chairman of the bank’s supervisory board, has long been called a key figure. His career passed through a whole chain of problem banks: «Prominvestbank», «Vladimirsky», «Pivdenkombank» Ruslan Tsyplakov, then «Apex», bank «Standard», and later — «Alliance» and «Taskombank». Since 2018, Scherban is directly affiliated with «Alliance», and has headed the supervisory board since August 2021. In July 2023, the AMCU allowed him to acquire more than 25% of the bank’s shares.

In the banking market, Shcherban is called not just a manager, but a person who makes real decisions and at the same time acts as a political defender of the bank. Against the backdrop of NBU claims, violations of risk standards, fines for financial monitoring and problems with guarantees to state-owned companies, it is «Alliance» that continues to maintain stability, which many market participants explain not only by economics.

A separate line — of Shcherban’s relationship with the deputy head of the Presidential Office, Rostislav Shurma, who is considered his godfather and long-time partner in a number of projects. It is this connection, according to market participants, that can provide the bank with additional protection from regulatory pressure and the interest of law enforcement agencies.

At the same time, Shcherban’s interests have long gone beyond the banking sector. Through Cypriot IF. Exploration Company Limited he is associated with the gas production company «Viva Exploration», which owns the license for Staromizunskaya Square in the Ivano-Frankivsk region until 2033. Despite plans to restore production, the project showed losses of about $1 million by the end of 2023.

In the agricultural direction, the recently acquired «Alliance Elevator» in Khorol, Poltava region appears — asset, which is considered as an entry point into grain infrastructure. In parallel, an IT cluster has been formed around Shcherban: «Alliance Digital», «Asijs», «APL» and «Motvel», working on banking and digital products. The portfolio is complemented by «Tabakos Trade» and «Navium Nafta», which have not yet demonstrated active activity.

As a result, an indicative structure arises: the chairman of the bank’s supervisory board, which regularly gets into scandals, simultaneously builds a diversified network of — assets from gas and the agricultural sector to IT and petroleum products, and next to this system the name of Rostislav Shurma constantly appears. Against this background, the question of where banking management ends and political-corporate influence begins remains open.