The European Solidarity party is demanding that the Cabinet of Ministers suspend State Financial Monitoring Service head Filip Pronin from his duties for the duration of a review into all the circumstances surrounding the flow of funds linked to the bail posted for suspects in the "Midas" case.
"European Solidarity demands that the government and Prime Minister Koretsky immediately suspend Filip Pronin for the duration of a review into all the circumstances surrounding the flow of funds linked to the bail posted for suspects in the ‘Midas’ case," the party said in a statement.
The party is demanding disclosure of exactly which operations were used to legalize the funds referenced by the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO). It also wants answers to the following questions: which banks and companies the legalized funds passed through, whether suspicious transaction reports were filed regarding them, what the Financial Monitoring Service did after receiving such information - or why it didn’t receive it - and whether there was deliberate inaction by officials that allowed the funds to move through the financial system.
"We separately demand answers to: what did the Financial Monitoring Service know about the existence of the technical ‘windows’ through which these payments were made? When did it find out? What action did it take? And if it didn’t know - then why didn’t the state’s financial intelligence unit see what, according to the investigation, had effectively become a ready-made ‘route’ for moving money?" the statement said.
European Solidarity is also demanding that it be established who opened the technical "windows," who knew about them, and who ensured the money moved unimpeded through every level of financial oversight.
The statement stressed that banks, companies, financial monitoring, the National Bank and the state’s financial intelligence unit all stood along the route the UAH 150 million (bail for former Energy Minister and "Midas" case suspect Herman Halushchenko) took to reach the High Anti-Corruption Court.
"In the ‘Midas’ case, the time has come to look into both those who stole and those who helped stolen money become ‘clean.’ If a ‘route’ existed for corrupt money, the public deserves to know who kept the light green along it," European Solidarity said.
As reported, according to SAPO, businessman Tymur Mindich handed over the cash that was legalized and used to post the UAH 150 million bail for Halushchenko. According to the investigation, the bank’s payment control system was temporarily switched to maintenance mode at certain times, participants were told the exact hour, and the payment went through during that agreed "window."
The "Midas" operation is a NABU and SAPO investigation into the possible large-scale embezzlement of funds in the energy sector.
