Prosecutor General's Office denies NABU head has been served with notice of suspicion

The Prosecutor General's Office has denied that Semen Kryvonos, Head of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), has been served with a notice of suspicion, saying that information previously posted by suspended Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko was untrue.

Source: Prosecutor General's Office press service; Kravchenko on social media

Quote: "In connection with the publication of a statement claiming that a notice of suspicion had allegedly been served on one of the heads of the anti-corruption agencies, we would like to state that this information is untrue.

Within the framework of these criminal proceedings, no person, including the head of an anti-corruption agency, has been served with a notice of suspicion in accordance with the procedure established by the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. There are no legal grounds for doing so. Statements about an alleged notice of suspicion were devoid of any legal basis."

Details: The office added that the relevant entries in the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations (URPTI) recording the service of a notice of suspicion had been deleted.

Almost simultaneously with the Prosecutor General's Office statement, Ruslan Kravchenko posted a message saying that the decision to serve the notice of suspicion had been "properly sent and this is confirmed by the relevant postal receipts". He added that "any attempt to revoke it or remove the information from the URPTI would constitute political and unlawful interference".

Kravchenko also claimed that, according to his information, NABU detective Oleksandr Abakumov had visited the leadership of the State Bureau of Investigation and the Prosecutor General's Office, demanding that the notice of suspicion against Semen Kryvonos be revoked at any cost.

Kravchenko later added a screenshot showing tracking information for what he claimed was the notice of suspicion on its way to its recipient.

Background:

• On 14 September, Kravchenko posted a video entitled "Episode 1. Part One" featuring case files which indicate that Kryvonos is suspected of voter bribery and the fictitious adoption of a child to evade liability in court.
• On 7 September, Kravchenko submitted his resignation as prosecutor general amid an investigation by NABU and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) into the "protection" of scam call centres.
• On the morning of 14 September, Kravchenko said he had signed a notice of suspicion against Kryvonos, who is accused of forging documents to extract illegal gains on a particularly large scale and arranging a sham adoption.
• According to Ukrainska Pravda sources in law enforcement, Kravchenko left Ukraine in an official car on the night of 13-14 September.
• Kryvonos called case files released by Kravchenko "nonsense" and refused to comment on them.

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