Zlochevsky bribe case submitted to court – SAPO
Prosecutors of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) have filed a case on an attempt to bribe the leadership of the SAPO and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) to the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC).
"Based on the materials of the pretrial investigation by NABU, SAPO prosecutors sent an indictment to the court on charges of three persons in an attempt to bribe the leadership of the SAPO and the NABU seeking to close criminal proceedings on suspicion of the former minister of ecology and natural resources of the times of the previous government," the press service of the SAPO said.
This concerns the first deputy head of the Main Directorate of the State Tax Service in Kyiv (at the time of the crime was committed), one of the leaders of a group of companies affiliated with the former minister of ecology and natural resources, and the former head of one of the departments of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine, who is a confidant of the former minister of ecology.
The investigation against the organizer of the crime – the former Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources – under Part 3 of Article 27, part 4 of Article 369 (organization of a crime, giving a bribe to an official who occupies a responsible position, by prior conspiracy by a group of persons) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine was separated into several proceedings, as the former minister is on the wanted list.
The SAPO does not name the ex-minister. As it is known, this is former Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine Mykola Zlochevsky.
As reported, in June 2020, NABU and SAPO detained three people red-handed immediately after providing a $5 million bribe for further transfer to the head of the SAPO, so that he would close the criminal proceedings on suspicion of the ex-minister, transferred in the autumn of 2019 by the General Prosecutor's Office (PGO) to NABU for investigation. The High Anti-Corruption Court determined detention with an option of bail as the custody status of all those detained.
The episode, in which the leadership of anti-corruption bodies was offered the bribe, concerns the possible involvement of the ex-minister in the seizure of funds from the stabilization loan of the National Bank issued to OJSC Real Bank (at that time controlled by a criminal organization with the participation of officials from the times of President Viktor Yanukovych) and money laundering of these funds. In this case, a number of persons were informed that they will be prosecuted, including the former minister.
According to NABU, this was the largest documented bribe to law enforcement officers in the history of Ukraine.
The pretrial investigation in the said proceedings was completed on December 1, 2020.