Law enforcement officers are conducting at least 70 searches targeting employees of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU).
This was reported to NABU.
According to the Bureau, the searches involve at least 15 NABU employees, and the investigative actions are being carried out without court orders.
The reasons for these actions in the vast majority of cases are the involvement of individual people in road accidents. However, some employees are accused of possible ties to Russia. As NABU says, these facts are not interconnected.
In parallel, an unscheduled inspection of the state of protection of state secrets, initiated by SBU, has begun. It concerns the NABU employees who have access to state secrets and conduct covert investigative actions. The Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutorʼs Office (SAP) also reported a similar inspection.
Based on the results of this inspection, SBU may obtain information about ongoing and planned operational measures and investigative actions of NABU and SAP. Disclosure of this information may disrupt investigative actions and already initiated investigations.
A planned inspection of the State Special Communications Service, covering the technical infrastructure of NABU, is also underway.
NABU says that during one of the searches, law enforcement officers used physical force against a Bureau detective, despite the lack of resistance on his part.
At the time of the beginning of the above actions, the leadership of NABU and SAP were on business trips. The NABU Director had already decided to interrupt his visit and return to Ukraine.
NABU is conducting an internal investigation into the circumstances of the events of July 21 and is investigating the legal grounds for the actions, including the use of force against its employee.
"At the same time, we note that the risk of the presence of agents of influence of the aggressor country remains relevant for any government body. However, this cannot be a reason to stop the work of the entire institution," the department added.
What preceded
On the morning of July 21, law enforcement officers detained one of the heads of the NABUʼs interregional detective departments Ruslan Maghamedrasulov. According to the investigation, the official was in close contact with the fugitive MP from the banned “OPZZh” party Fedir Khrystenko, who is connected to the Russian special services.
Law enforcement officers are also checking information about Magamedrasulovʼs contacts with Russian special services and the transfer of secret information to them, in particular regarding planned investigative actions.
As for Khrystenko, he was charged with treason and abuse of influence. Investigators believe he was an FSB agent and influenced the work of the NABU. He is also believed to have organized the escape from the country of businessman Hennadii Boholyubov.
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