Head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) Nazar Kholodnytsky has said that SAPO will ask the court to choose for the interior minister's son, Oleksandr Avakov, and former Deputy Interior Minister Serhiy Chebotar, a measure of restraint in the form of custody with the alternative of posting UAH 5 million bail.

"Three people were detained yesterday [on October 31], and they were informed of suspicion. Today, people are in a temporary detention facility. Detectives sent for consideration by prosecutors a petition for choosing for all three suspects a measure of restraint in the form of detention with the alternative of posting bail," he said at a briefing in Kyiv on Wednesday.

According to Kholodnytsky, at the moment the suspects and their defense lawyers are examining the petitions.

"The Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office will ask for custody for all three [suspects] with the alternative of posting bail – UAH 5 million each for the former deputy interior minister and one more individual and UAH 4 million for the businessman who allegedly produced these backpacks," he said.

As reported, two individuals detained on October 31 as part of the investigation into the so-called "backpack case" were informed on the same day of suspicion in committing a crime under Part 5, Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (appropriation, embezzlement or taking possession of property through abuse of power). The issue concerns former Deputy Interior Minister Serhiy Chebotar and Oleksandr Avakov, the son of Interior Minister Arsen Avakov.

Later NABU detectives notified the third detainee of suspicion in committing a crime during the purchase of backpacks for the Interior Ministry in late 2014 and early 2015. Bloc of Petro Poroshenko MP Serhiy Leshchenko said earlier, referring to his own sources, that NABU detectives had detained in Kharkiv head of IT firm Turboseo Volodymyr Lytvyn, who also runs a company that had to produce a batch of backpacks for the Interior Ministry.