Attorneys for Ukrainian MP Petro Poroshenko have appealed to the High Council of Justice (HCJ), the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), and the Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) with statements regarding pressure exerted by Iryna Mudra, former deputy head of the President's Office, and Ihor Dashutin, chairman of the Administrative Court of Cassation within the Supreme Court, on the panel of Supreme Court judges that was considering a lawsuit against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy seeking the lifting of sanctions, according to the political party's website.
"We have appealed to the High Council of Justice regarding this matter. It is the only body authorized to evaluate the activities of judges and ask them specific questions. We are asking them to ask Mr. Ihor Dashutin whether he indeed, after speaking with a representative of the President's Office, made such a strange decision [signing an order granting leave to one of the judges at the very time the decision was to be announced], because such decisions regarding judges' leave are not typically made in this manner," attorney Illia Novikov said during a briefing on Thursday.
According to him, the case regarding sanctions against Poroshenko is currently pending before the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court. Novikov also said "the conditions and circumstances that led to such interference [with the Supreme Court judges] have not gone away."
Attorney Ihor Holovan said the circumstances surrounding the pressure exerted on the judges of the Administrative Case Chamber of the Supreme Court should also be investigated as part of the criminal proceedings being conducted by NABU. "We have filed a motion with NABU requesting that Petro Poroshenko be recognized as a victim in this criminal case. Since Mudra's actions to influence the Supreme Court are directed against Petro Poroshenko, Poroshenko, as the leader of the opposition, should be recognized as a victim in this criminal proceeding," he believes.
As previously reported, on September 2, during a meeting of the Verkhovna Rada's Temporary Investigative Commission (TIC) on the investigation of possible unlawful actions by officials of state authorities, other state bodies, and state-owned enterprises that could have harmed Ukraine's economic security, it became known that Mudra had exerted pressure on the judges of the Administrative Court of the Supreme Court through the court's chairman, Dashutin, regarding sanctions against Poroshenko. According to Nina Yuzhanina, a member of parliament from the European Solidarity faction, audio recordings from the NABU show Mudra discussing this issue with another individual implicated in the case; therefore, she called on TIC members to summon Dashutin to a committee hearing. She noted that, according to the law, judges cannot be summoned to TIC meetings due to their role in the administration of justice; however, Dashutin performed an administrative function in this case.
At a hearing on August 25, the Appeals Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) upheld the pretrial measure imposed on Mudra – who is a suspect in cases involving money laundering and corporate raiding ("Forrest Gump" and "Themis") in the form of detention with the alternative of bail set at UAH 20 million.
On August 19, NABU and SAPO released a video regarding a special operation called "Forrest Gump": individuals who laundered UAH 150 million to pay bail for a defendant in the Midas case were exposed and charged. On Thursday, August 20, NABU and SAPO released a second video regarding corruption involving the same high-ranking officials, titled "Themis" – exposing the illegal seizure of real estate and corporate assets through document forgery. Based on the evidence obtained, NABU detectives and SAPO prosecutors have served notices of suspicion to members of the criminal organization and the individuals they recruited, under Articles 255, 191, 206-2, 209, 358, and 361 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
