Former chief of the State Customs Service of Ukraine Anatoliy Makarenko and former first deputy head of NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy Ihor Didenko were arrested in full observance of the law, the Public Prosecutor General's Office has said.
Makarenko and Didenko were arrested in connection with a case on the unlawful seizure of gas belonging to Swiss-based gas trader RosUkrEnergo.
"Checks have not revealed any violations of the current laws… [and there was no] evidence of the involvement of law enforcers in political processes, the use by them of methods to put pressure on people, or intimidation of Ukrainian citizens," reads a statement issued by the office following checks made in response to an appeal filed by the first president of independent Ukraine, Leonid Kravchuk.
According to the office, the Criminal Procedure Code was fully observed when Makarenko and Didenko were arrested.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych recently demanded that Prosecutor General Oleksandr Medvedko organize checks on allegations made in the letter by Kravchuk about the involvement of law enforcement agencies in politics. The president said he wills personally oversee this issue, and instructed the prosecutor general to report the results of the checks as soon as possible.
Former chief of the State Customs Service of Ukraine Anatoliy Makarenko
A number of media reported that on July 19, 2020, Kravchuk asked Yanukovych to prevent the transformation of law enforcement agencies and special services into "the tools of a political game."
According to Kravchuk, these structures, which are expected to protect human rights and freedoms and national interests, are facing a real threat of being involved in nontransparent and strategically harmful processes. In particular, he said he believes that the decisions of the Security Service of Ukraine to arrest Makarenko and Didenko are excessive measures, which were not necessary for the investigation of the case.
As reported earlier, the Stockholm Arbitration Tribunal on June 8, 2010, obliged national JSC Naftogaz Ukrainy to return 11 billion cubic meters of gas to Switzerland-registered RosUkrEnergo and to give it 1.1 billion cubic meters of gas as compensation.
Former first deputy head of NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy Ihor Didenko
Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Chief Valeriy Khoroshkovsky earlier reported on the opening of a case on damages caused to the Ukrainian state in connection with the ruling of the Stockholm Arbitration Tribunal. According to media reports, the former first deputy head of Naftogaz Ukrainy, Ihor Didenko, is the main witness in the case and he was ordered not to leave Ukraine. Following an appeal by Didenko’s lawyers, Kyiv’s Court of Appeals on July 20, upheld a ruling by Kyiv Pechersky District Court on the two-month detention of Didenko. The panel of judges ruled that the substantiation of the appeal did not have enough grounds for a change in a measure of restriction.
The ex-head of the State Customs Service of Ukraine, Anatoliy Makarenko, was earlier arrested for two months.
