Former head of Presidentʼs Office Andriy Bohdan reacted to the sanctions imposed against him — he is launching an investigation

The former head of the Presidential Office (OP) Andriy Bohdan reacted to the sanctions imposed against him by the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) and stated that this is a "criminal offense" and he is launching his own "independent legal investigation".

He reported this in a video message posted on Facebook.

"Sanctions were imposed on me for distributing the ʼMindich recordingsʼ among journalists. The complex structure of publishing corrupt conversations of officials is hidden behind the legal phrase ʼfor the systematic discrediting of the top leadership of the stateʼ," he said.

Bohdan added that from a legal point of view, the sanctions are related to the "Mindich recordings" case, and noted that he is identified as one of the persons involved in the recordings, although he left his position in February 2020. In this regard, he stated that he would conduct an "independent legal investigation" into the circumstances of the imposition of sanctions.

What preceded

On May 2, President Volodymyr Zelensky imposed NSDC sanctions against Andriy Bohdan and four other people because they “threaten the national interests, security, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of Ukraine”.

The sanctions include the deprivation of state awards, the freezing of assets, a ban on trade transactions, restrictions on the withdrawal of capital abroad, and the suspension of licenses and other permits.

Then Andriy Bohdan stated that he had been warned about sanctions against him. In his opinion, the restrictions could have been introduced to “distract public interest” or because he could be “guilty of transferring documents in the chain Mindich —> Kolomoiskyi —> Bohdan —> Smirnov —> journalists”. Then he rejected the accusations of his participation in this chain and suggested that Tymur Mindich himself was “leaking” materials to journalists through Mykhailo Tkach.

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