NACP excludes Hungarian OTP Bank from war sponsors: it can unblock military aid
OTP Bank (Illustrative photo: depositphotos.com)

The National Agency on Corruption Prevention suspended the status of five Greek shipping companies – Dynacom Tankers Management (DTM), Delta Tankers LTD, Thenamaris Ships Management Inc., Minerva Marine, TMC Tankers LTD, as well as the Hungarian OTP Bank in the list of international war sponsors. Such a decision was made as a result of negotiations between representatives of NACP, companies and governments of these countries regarding the termination of cooperation with Russia, according to a message on the department's website.

"From now on, on the 'War and Sanctions' portal, in the 'International War Sponsors' section, these six companies will have a temporarily suspended status. Further exclusion of them from the list will depend on the fulfillment of the specified conditions," writes NACP.

The agency expressed the hope that such a decision will lead to the unblocking by Hungary of 500 million euros of "vitally necessary" military aid from the European Union for the Ukrainian people.

In May, the Hungarian Foreign Minister said that the country intends to block the next tranches of EU military support for Ukraine and any new package of EU sanctions against Russia until OTP Bank is excluded from the Ukrainian list of war sponsors.

Also, NACP hopes that this decision will rule out the possibility that Greece will block the future package of EU sanctions, which is aimed at reducing the ability of the Russian Federation to continue the war against Ukraine.

"The agency is always open to cooperation with international business and is ready to hold consultations on the steps necessary for delisting," the agency writes.

Hungarian OTP Bank is the basis of the international financial group OTP Group — one of the leaders of the financial services market in Central and Eastern Europe, according to data from the Budapest Stock Exchange. OTP Bank has subsidiary banks in Russia, Ukraine, Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Montenegro and Romania.

On May 4, 2023, NACP added Hungarian OTP Bank to the list of international war sponsors. The decision was made due to the position of the bank's management to continue operations in Russia and the de facto recognition of the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk "people's republics".

The next day, OTP Bank Ukraine published a statement in which it called false information about the activities of OTP Group on the Russian market.

On August 7, NACP returned five Greek shipping companies to the list of war sponsors.

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