Ukraine's Security Service rejects political plot accusations around arrest of anti-corruption officer

OLEKSANDR SHUMILIN - 31 July, 14:27

Ruslan Mahamedrasulov in court. Photo: Provided by Ukrainska Pravda source

The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) denies that the detention and arrest of Ruslan Mahamedrasulov, an officer of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), took place due to political motives.

Source: SSU in a comment to Ukrainska Pravda

Quote: "In recent days, distorted information from anonymous sources has been spreading, which concerns the detention by the Security Service of Ukraine of NABU employee Ruslan Mahamedrasulov. In particular, there are active attempts to spread the opinion in society that this person was not detained on suspicion of aiding the aggressor state (Article 111.2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), but instead due to political motives.

All rumours that R. Mahamedrasulov was engaged in documenting one of the famous Ukrainian businessmen do not correspond to reality."

Details: The SSU insists that their investigation established that Mahamedrasulov "had contacts with representatives of the aggressor country and acted as an intermediary in the sale of batches of his father’s technical hemp to the Russian Federation (Republic of Dagestan)."

"In this context, the statements of individual representatives of community organisations, who deliberately manipulate the facts, evaluating the materials published by the Service, look at least strange. In particular, they claim that the person involved in the case allegedly traded with Uzbekistan, not Dagestan, and ‘do not notice’ the evidence, including authentic recordings of the audio conversations of the person involved and documents of the relevant state programme of the Russian Federation, made public by the SSU officially," the agency said.

Background:

Ukrainska Pravda quotes an anti-corruption official whose words appear in the article "How and by whom was the special operation to destroy the independence of NABU and SAPO implemented?" There, he suggests that detained and arrested NABU officer Ruslan Mahamedrasulov was one of the major personnel involved in documenting the operations of businessman Timur Mindich, co-owner of Kvartal 95, the Ukrainian production company Volodymyr Zelenskyy founded before he became president.
On 21 July, the SSU conducted a series of searches and detentions involving NABU and SAPO (Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office). One of the detained individuals was Ruslan Mahamedrasulov, a senior official in a regional NABU detective unit.
The SSU and Prosecutor General’s Office stated at the time that he "acted as an intermediary for the sale of consignments of industrial hemp to the Republic of Dagestan (Russia)."
On 22 July, a court in Kyiv remanded Mahamedrasulov in custody for 60 days.
Ukrainska Pravda sources report that NABU and SAPO, while conducting surveillance in an apartment where President Volodymyr Zelenskyy celebrated his birthday five years ago, recorded the voice of Timur Mindich, a businessman and co-owner of Kvartal 95, the Ukrainian production company Volodymyr Zelenskyy founded before he became president.

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