Vadym Petrovych Hetman ( uk, Вадим Петрович Гетьман; 12 July 1935 – 22 April 1998) was a Ukrainian statesman, politician, and banker. He is credited with the creation of the National Bank of Ukraine, Ukraine's central bank. He was assassinated in April 1998 in his home in Kyiv. According to the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, the crime was paid for by former Prime Minister of Ukraine

Pavlo Lazarenko Pavlo Ivanovych Lazarenko ( uk, Павло Іванович Лазаренко; born 23 January 1953) is a Ukrainian former politician, convicted criminal, and international fugitive who served as Prime Minister of Ukraine from 1996 to 1997. Bo ...

.Генпрокуратура перевіряє Тимошенко на причетність до ще одного вбивства
BBC Ukrainian (7 April 2012) He was posthumously conferred the title of Hero of Ukraine on 11 July 2005.

Early life and career

Vadym Petrovych Hetman was born in the village of Snityn, located in Poltava Oblast (at the time in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic), in 1935. In 1956, he finished the Kyiv Financial-Economic Institute, after which he worked in various financial institutions in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. In 1975, Vadym Hetman was named the first vice-president to the Head of the Government Committee of Pricing of the Ukrainian SSR. In 1987, he became the head of the Agricultural-Industrial Bank of the Ukrainian SSR (since 1990 Ukraine Bank).

Chairman of the National Bank

On 24 March 1992, Vadym Hetman was accepted as the Chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine. He supervised early monetary reforms in newly independent Ukraine through 1993, when he resigned from his position as the head of the supervisory board of the National Bank of Ukraine. However, he maintained close ties with his successor, Viktor Yushchenko. Hetman's signature appears on the original banknotes of Ukraine's national currency, the hryvnia, which was introduced in September 1996.

People's Deputy of Ukraine

Hetman was also a member of the Verkhovna Rada from 1990 to 1998. He went for his second term as deputy in 1994 from the Talne electoral district of Cherkasy Oblast as a

nonpartisan Nonpartisanism is a lack of affiliation with, and a lack of bias towards, a political party. While an Oxford English Dictionary definition of ''partisan'' includes adherents of a party, cause, person, etc., in most cases, nonpartisan refers sp ...

. He received 50.97% of the vote in the first round of voting. He ran for a third term in the

1998 Ukrainian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Ukraine on 29 March 1998. Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1976 The Communist Party of Ukraine remained the largest party in the Verkhovna Rada, winning 121 of the 445 ...

, but failed to get re-elected, receiving only 21.85% of the vote, 3.87% below the required percentage to win. His opponent was First Deputy Minister of Information Mykhailo Onofryichuk. He is also known to have complained to the then-President Leonid Kuchma about voting irregularities within the Verkhovna Rada itself.

Assassination

Hetman was shot by an apparently professional killer in the elevator of his own apartment block in Kyiv on 22 April 1998. The alleged assassin, 29-year-old Serhiy Kulev, a member of the "Kushner gang" from the

Donbas The Donbas or Donbass (, ; uk, Донба́с ; russian: Донба́сс ) is a historical, cultural, and economic region in eastern Ukraine. Parts of the Donbas are controlled by Russian separatist groups as a result of the Russo-Ukrai ...

, was only arrested in 2002. He was later sentenced to life imprisonment without bond in April 2003. The Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine has claimed that the assassination was ordered and paid for by

, a former Prime Minister of Ukraine. Lazarenko has denied responsibility for the killing. Despite the Luhansk City Court's verdict, the case remains far from being certain. In early August 2005, the media reported that the convict filed an appeal to the Supreme Court of Ukraine on grounds that he had been forced to make a false confession. His lawyer subsequently made a public statement that the case was entirely fabricated.

Awards and legacy

Vadym Hetman was posthumously conferred the title of Hero of Ukraine by President Viktor Yushchenko on 11 July 2005. On 12 July 2005, a memorial plate was established in his honour on House № 13, where Hetman lived and was assassinated. In 2005, The Kyiv National Economic University was renamed in honour of Vadym Hetman, which he attended in the 1950s. On 19 April 2006, the ''Industrial Street'' in Kyiv was renamed in his honour. A

regatta Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other wate ...

cup, "Vadym Hetman Cup" bears his name.

References

External links

National Bank of Ukraine
— official website
Vadym Hetman Cup
— official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hetman, Vadym 1935 births 1998 deaths People from Poltava Oblast Ukrainian bankers Governors of the National Bank of Ukraine Assassinated Ukrainian politicians Deaths by firearm in Ukraine People murdered in Ukraine First convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada Second convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada Recipients of the title of Hero of Ukraine Kyiv National Economic University alumni Burials at Baikove Cemetery