A group of investigators from the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine (PGO) on Friday appeared at the offices of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) with a court-approved search warrant in a three-month case related to illegal wire-tapping, but NABU agents dissuaded them from carrying out the search, NABU's press service has said.

"PGO investigators are led by Dmytro Sus, the head of the PGO's division for investigating criminal matters in the area of state service and property. PGO investigators presented a court ruling as the basis of their search. The ruling was issued pursuant to a criminal case opened on April 22, 2016 and related to unauthorized wiretaps made by NABU agents of telephone conversations between suspects in a criminal investigation being conducted by the NABU," NABU's press statement on Friday says.

NABU agents presented PGO agents with documents proving the legality of NABU activities and explained that NABU was operating in accordance with the law and did not have the authority to tap phones independently and relied on Ukraine's State Security Service (SBU) to carry this task out. Therefore, the facts serving as the basis for the court-ordered search of NABU, just as the information entered into the unified register of pretrial investigations, did not correspond to reality.

"The criminal investigation started in April, immediately after NABU began actively discussing in public the issue of whether the NABU should be given the authority to conduct remote wiretaps. It laid on the bookshelf for three months and now, after the draft legislation has been prepared, agreed and tendered to parliament for debate, PGO agents have arrived at NABU with the search warrant. One more interesting fact – the article, according to which the given criminal case is classified, is not within the competence of the unit headed by Sus to investigate," NABU Director Artem Sytnyk said.

NABU's press service says that "as of 14:00 Kyiv time on August 5, PGO attempts to seize documents or search employee offices or any premises at NBU have not taken place."

NABU also says a special NABU police group was called into action during the attempt the conduct the search "with the aim to avoid possible provocations and to ensure order in the building."

"Some media reports that SBU's specialized Alpha unit was involved are untrue," NABU said.