The Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) said that as of Thursday, December 31, no decision has been taken on the investigation of the so-called case of bribing the leadership of the Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO), in which the former Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources during the presidency of Viktor Yanukovych is suspected.

"Today, the media reported that the Prosecutor General's Office is trying to protect the former Ecology Minister of Yanukovych era. We want to warn the authors of this fantastic article, misleading the public and deliberately planned falsification do not honor the officers of law enforcement agencies of Ukraine," the Prosecutor General's Office said in a statement on Thursday.

Indeed, the office said, by the ruling of the investigating judge of Pechersky District Court of Kyiv dated December 24, 2020 in case No. 757/50347/20-k, the lawyer's complaint in the interests of the suspect about the inaction of Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova in case No. 52020000000000362 dated June 3, 2020 on resolving the dispute on jurisdiction, was satisfied. In the ruling, the judge decided to change the jurisdiction in the specified criminal proceeding and entrust the investigation to another body of pretrial investigation. This ruling of the investigating judge of Pechersky District Court of Kyiv was appealed by the Prosecutor General's Office.

"As of December 31, 2020, neither Prosecutor General Venediktova, nor anyone else from the leadership of the Prosecutor General's Office made a decision to change the jurisdiction in criminal proceeding No. 52020000000000362 dated June 3, 2020. Any information that directly or indirectly confirms this statement is a lie," the Prosecutor General's Office said.