The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) have completed a special investigation against the ex-Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources, suspected of organizing an attempt to bribe the leadership of anti-corruption agencies in order to close criminal proceedings against him, NABU has reported.

"On October 28, 2021, the investigation materials were opened to the defense before drawing up the indictment. The actions of the suspect are qualified under Part 3 of Article 27, Part 4 of Article 369 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine [giving a bribe]," NABU said in a statement posted on the website on Friday.

NABU said that since the whereabouts of the former minister have not been established, he was notified that he will be prosecuted on July 1, 2020 by mail at the place of registration, at the last known place of residence, as well as by telephone.

The NABU report does not indicate the name of the ex-minister. As we all know, this is the former Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine Mykola Zlochevsky.

In June 2020, NABU and SAPO detained three people red-handed immediately after providing $5 million of unlawful benefits for further transfer to the head of the SAPO, so that he would close the criminal proceedings related to suspicion of the ex-minister. In the autumn of 2019, the case was transferred by the General Prosecutor's Office to NABU to investigate in a part, concerning the ex-minister of ecology. The High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) chose detention with the alternative of paying bail for all those detained.

The episode, in which the leadership of anti-corruption bodies was offered an unlawful benefit, 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 (controlled at that time by a criminal organization with the participation of officials from the times of President Viktor Yanukovych) and the money laundering of these funds. In this case, a number of persons have been notified that they will be prosecuted, including the former minister.

In April 2021, SAPO prosecutors sent the case on the attempt to bribe the SAPO and NABU leadership to HACC. The defendants in the case are the first deputy head of the State Tax Service Directorate in Kyiv (at the time of the crime), 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 was a confidant of the former Minister of Ecology.