Prosecutor General Kravchenko begins to release case materials on head of anti-corruption agency

Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko has posted a video entitled "Episode 1. Part One", featuring case files which indicate that Semen Kryvonos, head of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), is suspected of voter bribery and the fictitious adoption of a child to evade liability in court.

Source: a video on Kravchenko's social media accounts

Quote from the video: "According to judicial proceedings, in April 2008, the defendant, Semen Kryvonos, entered into a criminal conspiracy with other individuals to conduct illegal election campaigning by bribing students at Kyiv National Linguistic University and Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. According to the court materials, UAH 90,000 (about US$2,000) was provided to Semen Kryvonos and his accomplice to execute this criminal scheme, which was subsequently allocated towards bribing students."

Details: The video features an excerpt from Kryvonos's interview during the candidate selection process for the position of NABU director, in which a commission member mentions that between 2008 and 2009, Kryvonos was wanted in connection with the transfer of UAH 15,000 (US$330) for distribution to students in exchange for votes for the Yuliia Tymoshenko Bloc. However, the case was closed in 2010.

Kryvonos explained the incident as a trumped-up case stemming from an action he took in 2007, together with a group of like-minded students, against the administration of a university, allegedly over its attempts to pressure students into voting for specific candidates. He denied the allegation of voter bribery itself and said he was unaware he had been placed on a wanted list and had not been in hiding.

Kravchenko's video goes on to say: "However, according to investigators, Semen Kryvonos, the future head of NABU, intentionally misled the members of the selection commission, as he was not only well aware of the charges against him and the potential penalties, but also devised a criminal plan whose execution subsequently allowed him to be exempted from criminal liability."

The plan allegedly involved creating a contrived basis to qualify for amnesty. At that time, one such legal ground was having a minor child. Therefore, Kravchenko claims, Kryvonos and an accomplice persuaded a single mother (who appears in the materials under the pseudonym "Rhea", while Kryvonos himself is referred to as "Janus") to submit applications to registry offices to have Kryvonos recognised as the father of the child and a false birth certificate issued.

"Rhea" can be heard on the recording stating that Kryvonos wrote a letter of consent to adopt her child, after which amendments were allegedly made to the birth certificate.

However, according to the investigation, Kryvonos had no intention whatsoever of fulfilling parental duties.

The video states: "After obtaining the forged birth certificate in which he was named as the child's father from the registry office, Semen Kryvonos submitted an application, with the intention of misleading the court, to Kyiv's Holosiivskyi District Court requesting that an amnesty be applied to him, attaching the forged certificate... claiming that he had a minor child to support."

Kravchenko says this application led the judge to exempt Kryvonos from criminal liability without grounds in 2009, applying the amnesty law. The case concerning the bribery of students was also closed.

On the morning of 14 September, Kravchenko stated that he had signed a notice of suspicion against Kryvonos, who is accused of forging documents to obtain an unlawful benefit on an especially large scale, as well as fictitious adoption. The prosecutor general also noted that he is prepared to publish all the materials related to the proceedings.

In a statement this morning, Kravchenko said: "As of today, the Office of the Prosecutor General is providing procedural oversight in dozens of criminal proceedings investigating grave and especially grave crimes committed by employees of NABU and SAPO [the Specialised Anti-Сorruption Prosecutor's Office]."

This news has been updated since publication.

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