Ukrainian anti-corruption agencies to check origin of bail money for suspects in several cases

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) are to check the legality of funds transferred to the High Anti-Corruption Court as bail for suspects in several criminal proceedings, including Andrii Yermak, former head of the President's Office.

Source: SAPO Head Oleksandr Klymenko in an interview with the Ye pytannia YouTube channel

Details: Asked whether NABU and SAPO will be checking the source of the funds used to pay bail for Yermak, Klymenko said: "That's quite an interesting question. We did have certain suspicions regarding the payment of various bail amounts in our investigations, and we will check this as far as possible. It's more difficult to confirm everything retrospectively than in real time, but in principle, that's the direction we'll be moving in."

He added that there is an established and effective mechanism for checking the origin of funds.

"There is a mechanism. It's quite effective if it operates in accordance with the law and there is no manual interference. Funds are monitored as they are paid into the bank accounts of individuals, sole traders and legal entities. This is done by the bank's financial monitoring department," Klymenko said.

He explained that if the department notices a suspicious transaction, it is obliged to report it to the State Financial Monitoring Service.

Asked again whether such checks will be carried out with respect to the funds used as bail for Yermak, Klymenko said: "Not just in that particular case. There are many proceedings where we are planning to conduct such checks in general."

He added that the anti-corruption authorities often conduct such checks without criminal proceedings being opened.

Quote: "We contact the financial monitoring service without registering criminal proceedings so that they can trace the entire chain of how the funds entered the financial system. If the chain begins, for example, with unexplained people who have no source of income depositing cash into the bank accounts of certain legal entities, and the money is then transferred along the chain and ends up in the account of the High Anti-Corruption Court, this raises suspicions and they have to investigate it."

Details: Asked whether SAPO currently has grounds to suspect that Yermak's bail followed the same pattern as the bail paid for former energy minister Herman Halushchenko, Klymenko said: "I don't want to put forward any theories or versions of events. We need to gather certain factual data and then work with it and draw conclusions."

Background:

• In May, NABU and SAPO served Andrii Yermak with a notice of suspicion in a case concerning the alleged laundering of UAH 460 million (around US$10.5 million) through a high-end construction project outside Kyiv.
• Sources in political and business circles have told Ukrainska Pravda that Yermak's UAH 140 million bail money was raised across virtually the entire government hierarchy: in the President's Office, in parliament – where Servant of the People faction leader Davyd Arakhamiia was one of those involved – and among ministers. Even Serhii Rebrov, the former manager of Ukraine's national football team, was reportedly forced to contribute UAH 30 million (around US$675,096).
• Former energy minister Herman Halushchenko was served with a notice of suspicion in the Midas case in February. He is suspected of large-scale money laundering. The High Anti-Corruption Court initially ordered him to be remanded in custody, with bail set at UAH 150 million (around US$3.3 million). The court later extended Halushchenko's detention but reduced the bail amount from UAH 200 million to UAH 150 million. The former minister remained in a pre-trial detention centre from February until almost the end of June. At one point it was rumoured that he might strike a deal with investigators.
• According to Ukrainska Pravda's sources, the authorities then stepped up efforts to find the money needed for Halushchenko's bail. Sources told UP that the problem was not that the money was unavailable in the authorities' numerous back offices, but that the funds had to be legitimate rather than stolen millions.
• At the time, UP sources among influential businesspeople claimed that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had tasked his chief of staff Kyrylo Budanov with finding and laundering the funds. Budanov, in turn, brought in former MP and property developer Maksym Mykytas.
• On 29 June, the UAH 150 million bail was finally posted for Halushchenko. The money was provided by little-known companies with equally little-known owners.
• On 19 August, it was reported that NABU and SAPO had managed to document the operation to "rescue" Halushchenko. According to investigators, the collection and laundering of the bail money was coordinated by Iryna Mudra, who was deputy head of the President's Office at the time.

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