Oksana Torop, media advisor to Ukraine's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United Kingdom Valeriy Zaluzhny, stated that the photograph, showing Zaluzhny and independent Member of Parliament Vadym Stolar, is a fake, and in reality, they have never met.
"This is a fake photo. No such meeting ever took place. It is not difficult to understand why this kind of disinformation about Zaluzhny is being fabricated and circulated in this particular way and at this particular time, and why it is being spread by these particular sources… Once again, they are trying to discredit Zaluzhny because they are afraid of him," Torop wrote on Facebook on Friday.
As previously reported, on August 19, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) released a video regarding a special operation codenamed "Forrest Gump:" individuals who laundered UAH 150 million to pay bail for a suspect in the Midas case were exposed and charged. The group included, among others, the deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine and a former member of parliament.
It later emerged that NABU and the SAPO are conducting investigative actions against Iryna Mudra, the deputy head of the President's Office, and Vadym Stolar, an independent member of parliament, and that the searches are related to Sens Bank and the posting of bail for former Minister of Energy and Justice Herman Halushchenko.
