Parliament limited the powers of NABU, SAPO and the independence of all prosecutors. Is this a “payback” for the Oleksiy Chernyshov case or did many factors and interests coincide? A big analysis of Babel

NABU and SAPO, as well as SBI, have unique powers to investigate the actions of government officials.

They can initiate cases against members of the government, MPs, judges, etc. Both the previous and current governments have tried to either block the work of anti-corruption bodies or head them.

Under President Joe Biden, anti-corruption agencies enjoyed the patronage of the US Embassy. The new State Department is not interested in the fight against corruption in Ukraine, nor in reforms in Ukraine as such. The EU countries are not yet ready to really put pressure on the Ukrainian authorities. However, the requirements for the independence of law enforcement agencies are spelled out both in agreements with the International Monetary Fund and in the Ukraine Facility, under which the EU allocates money to Ukraine.

July 21: SBU claims that the regional head of NABU hid his fatherʼs Russian passport and helped him sell industrial hemp to Russia

The head of the NABU department in Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions Ruslan Maghamedrasulov hid the fact that his father had a Russian passport, SBU claims. The main claim is that Maghamedrasulov acted as an intermediary in the sale of his fatherʼs industrial hemp to Dagestan under a Russian state program.

SBU also reports that Maghamedrasulov’s mother Iryna lives in Kyiv, but receives a pension from the “DPR” and “supports Russia’s war against Ukraine”. In support of this version, the SBU cites a telephone conversation between Maghamedrasulov’s parents, during which Iryna says that “Zelensky is preventing the war from ending, sitting in the USA”, and that she herself dreams of returning to Horlivka, because she finds life in Ukraine unbearable. SBU also showed footage of Maghamedrasulov’s vacation in Tenerife, where he spent several weeks.

Ruslan Maghamedrasulov was charged with aiding and abetting an aggressor state.

July 21: SBU claims that traitorous MP Fedir Khrystenko influenced NABU through two heads of the agency

A deputy of the banned “OPZZh” party Fedir Khrystenko has many different sins. SBU claims that the Russians recruited him during the time of President Viktor Yanukovych. Khrystenko carried out FSB tasks during the Revolution of Dignity — he organized private carriers to deliver "titushky" for the "Anti-Maidan". He is now "in close contact" with Yuriy Ivanyushchenko, a criminal businessman, former MP and "watcher" of the "DPR" for the Russian special services.

SBU claims that Fedir Khrystenko influenced NABU through two of its leaders.

The first is the regional head Ruslan Maghamedrasulov, whom we wrote about above. Fedir Khrystenko had known him since the 2000s, when they studied at university together. However, SBU does not disclose any details about their connection.

The second employee is the head of the NABU detective unit Oleksandr Skomarov. SBU notes that Khrystenko has “close contact” with him. The service proves this by the fact that in 2022, during a full-scale invasion Oleksandr Skomarov’s wife traveled abroad in the car of Fedir Khrystenko’s wife.

• Oleksandr Skomarov explained that in the first days of the Great War he decided to transport his family abroad. On the way to Transcarpathia, he learned how to do this, turned to a familiar employee of the local prosecutorʼs office and asked for advice on a carrier. The prosecutorʼs office employee put him in touch with a driver who drove cars abroad on order, and the driver put Skomarovʼs relatives in the car for money. By coincidence, Skomarov claims, it was the car of Fedir Khrystenkoʼs wife.

SBU also believes that the NABU detectives subordinate to Oleksandr Skomarov helped businessman Hennadii Boholyubov escape abroad. According to SBU, they accompanied Boholyubov when he crossed the state border — they were in the next compartment of the train "for safety reasons". According to the investigation, the corresponding "special operation" was also organized by Fedir Khrystenko.

• NABU noted that this was a coincidence: the detectives were indeed traveling by train, but on a business trip to the “Global Forum on Asset Recovery” in Vienna. They were traveling at the invitation of the Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (StAR), which is a joint program of the World Bank and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. The trip was arranged in advance, and the detectives themselves did not know Boholyubov.

SBU notes that during searches of Fedir Khrystenkoʼs house, where his relatives now live, they found the NABU documents related to the secret surveillance of persons involved in the NABU cases, as well as dozens of personal profiles of candidates for detectives. Among the personal profiles were documents of Ruslan Maghamedrasulov and a profile of former NABU detective Tymur Arshavin — he fled Ukraine in 2024. SBU claims that this indicates "Russian influence and systemic leaks of information from the anti-corruption agency".

July 21: SBU claims that an employee of the elite NABU unit spied for Russia. NABU claims that this is an old and unproven case

SBU detained Viktor Husarov, an employee of the “D-2” unit of the NABU Central Office. This unit is special, it includes secret NABU agents who usually work undercover. The most famous employee of this unit is “agent Kateryna”.

SBU claims that Viktor Husarov spied for the Russian special services, and his supervisor was Dmytro Ivantsov, the deputy head of Viktor Yanukovychʼs security.

SBU notes that it has documented at least 60 episodes when Viktor Husarov passed on restricted information to Dmytro Ivantsov. This was the personal data of Ukrainian security officers and other citizens against whom the enemy planned terrorist attacks and special information operations. Viktor Husarov used closed databases of law enforcement agencies and received money for it. SBU emphasizes that it reported the mole to NABU, but the Bureau did not react.

• According to one of Babel’s interlocutors, the case concerns the events of 2012-2014 — that is, the period when Viktor Yanukovych was president, and NABU did not even exist in the draft. NABU claims that at that time Viktor Husarov worked in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. He sent data on Ukrainian citizens to Dmytro Ivantsov, who then worked in SBU and headed one of the State Security Department units, by e-mail.
• As a former law enforcement officer explained to Babel, this practice was widespread: law enforcement officers sold data from closed registers. This is indeed a criminal offense, which is classified under Article 362 of the Criminal Code. But this article has a statute of limitations of 5 to 10 years, and it has already expired. (High treason and crimes against the foundations of national security do not have a statute of limitations.)

In a series of posts on its official Facebook page, NABU explained the background to Viktor Husarovʼs case.

Some time ago, they received information about him from SBU and conducted a joint investigation. They found no evidence that Viktor Husarov knew at the time that Dmytro Ivantsov was connected to Russian intelligence services. NABU consulted with SBU on whether Viktor Husarov should be released, and the Service advised against doing anything so as not to hinder operational work on Ivantsovʼs other connections.

On July 22, Husarov was given a preventive measure — detention for two months without the right to bail.

July 21: The State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) together with the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office suspect three NABU employees of violating traffic safety rules

The State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) reports three incidents involving NABU employees. The bureau did not disclose the dates of these incidents, but they were reported to NABU — these are events from 2021 and 2023. As a former employee of one of the law enforcement agencies told Babel, there has long been an agreement between law enforcement agencies not to disclose information about road accidents in exchange for some services — “bash for bash”. That is why, according to Babel’s interlocutor, SBI received “old” cases.

• A NABU officer was leaving a secondary road in Kyiv, collided with a car traveling on a main road, drove onto the shoulder, and hit a pedestrian. The pedestrian had to have his leg amputated.
• A NABU officer was driving on the Kyiv-Odesa highway, overtook, was swept off the roadway, the car overturned and collided with a gas station building. The passenger of the car suffered multiple fractures, a ruptured spleen, and a contusion of the brain.
• A NABU officer ran over a pedestrian at an intersection when he was crossing the road on a green light.

July 22: The Verkhovna Rada limited the powers of NABU and SAPO, the powers of prosecutors of all bodies and the procedure for their hiring

On the morning of July 22, the parliamentary committee, unexpectedly even for some of its members, considered amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC). It significantly curtailed the powers of NABU and SAPO. Amendments were made to draft law 12414, which was supposed to simplify the lives of relatives of Ukrainians who went missing and were killed in frontline areas.

The document had nothing to do with anti-corruption agencies. The committee accepted the amendments. The first deputy chairman of the committee Andriy Osadchuk and the head of the specialized subcommittee and author of the bill Oleksandr Bakumov were not notified of the meeting.

At lunchtime, the Verkhovna Rada passed the bill with all the amendments by 263 votes. The MP from “Servants of the People”, who were interviewed by Babel, say that no one explained anything to the ordinary MPs, and the bill was simply put to a vote. Not even all the authors of the bill knew about the amendments.

In essence, the parliament limited the exclusive right of NABU and SAPO to investigate cases of top corrupt officials.

The Prosecutor General will determine the subjectivity of such cases. Another important point is that the Prosecutor General will be able to take any criminal proceedings for review and give them to other prosecutors for study. This norm, according to Volodymyr Petrakovsky, a lecturer at the Faculty of Law of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and a former prosecutor, undermines the autonomy of all prosecutors — and this is no less important than the problems of SAPO and NABU.

“This makes the Prosecutor General the Ultimate Boss,” says Volodymyr Petrakovsky.

According to him, the Prosecutor General may be taking cases even now. However, principled prosecutors could say no to him, citing the law. Now they will not be able to do so — and this is a big step back in attempts to create a European-style prosecutorʼs office.

Another drawback of the bill is that now the Prosecutor General and regional prosecutorsʼ offices will be able to hire employees independently.

Currently, prosecutors are recruited through competitions by the Prosecutorsʼ Council and the Qualification Disciplinary Commission of Prosecutors. Now the Prosecutor General and heads of regional prosecutorsʼ offices will be able to bypass them and, if they wish, form groups of "loyalists".

Everyone is discussing why the authorities "attacked" NABU and SAPO — is it taking revenge for the recent case of Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov or are the reasons deeper?

Babelʼs interlocutors in the anti-corruption sphere suggest that NABU and SAPO "attacked" them because they opened a case against Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov (he was suspected a month ago). Another reason, they say, may be that NABU and SAPO are preparing to suspect businessman Tymur Mindich.

Both Oleksiy Chernyshov and Tymur Mindich are close to the family of President Volodymyr Zelensky. Oleksiy Chernyshovʼs wife and the presidentʼs wife are friends. Tymur Mindich is a co-owner of “Studio Kvartal 95”.

Minister Chernyshovʼs case could really have angered the Office of the President — this is also suggested by Volodymyr Petrakovskyi. Although he does not rule out the guilt of NABU itself: "Firstly, representatives of almost all law enforcement agencies have long disliked NABU officers, because society and the media forgive them things for which other security officers are crucified — for example, the same high-profile traffic accidents. Secondly, NABU loves media attention, it merges its cases with the media, often violates human rights and lowers work standards below the lowest."

The fact that the “decision regarding NABU and SAPO” has been matured for a long time is also stated by Babel’s interlocutor in the leadership of “Servant of the People”.

“I have had a long-standing opinion regarding [anti-corruption] infrastructure — they have become a tool of political infighting for no reason almost from the start. They had a chance not to get involved. They got involved — and it started to get out sideways.”

When asked why he doesn’t say the same about the State Bureau of Investigation, the interlocutor agrees: “It’s about the whole zoo.”

Another ordinary deputy from “Servant of the People” says that not the whole faction is satisfied with the bill they passed. In particular, many were outraged that there were no consultations on such an important issue.

“I also have complaints about the work of NABU and SAPO, and many do, but you can’t do that. And to pack it into an another bill is also,” the deputy says.

Meanwhile, the NABU head Semen Kryvonos said that three NABU officers received bodily injuries during the searches, but they could not remove the beatings all Monday.

"Relevant work was carried out with medical institutions so as not to accept detectives in order to record the extent of the bodily injuries," Kryvonos said. He added that this was done "at the level of one of the heads of departments of the Kyiv City State Administration".

According to Babel, the profile deputy head of the Kyiv City State Administration for Medicine is Mykola Povoroznyk. NABU is investigating the possible theft of UAH 38 million during repairs at the Kyiv City Clinical Hospital for War Veterans. According to the investigation, officials purchased materials for repairs at inflated prices. It was in this case that Povoroznyk was searched.