The Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) has asked the courts to permit the arrest of former justice minister Oleksandr Lavrynovych, chief of the PGO special inquiry department Ihor Slobodianyk has said.
“Today a motion was presented [to Lavrynovych]. At least three hours [were] needed for lawyers to get familiar with the materials, that’s why today we’re short in time due to clear reasons, and tomorrow in the early morning this motion will be submitted for the court’s consideration,” he said at a briefing in Kyiv on July 30.
He said that the Lavrynovych is currently in the premises of the PGO and is familiarizing himself with the materials of the case.
Slobodianyk reported that a bail payment might be offered as an alternative to arrest.
“Hr 8.5 million asked by the prosecution agencies will be an alternative. This is a sum of money, which was wasted [by Lavrynovych],” he said.
As reported, Lavrynovych is suspected of committing the offense under Article 191, Part 5 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code (property misappropriation, embezzlement or obtention via abuse of office on a large scale or by a group).
Specifically, Lavrynovych is accused of misappropriating over UAH 8.5 million through the abuse of office, which was “spent unlawfully and baselessly on engaging a foreign firm in order to conceal the facts of criminal legislation violations buy law enforcement authorities and courts while carrying out the inquiry and court proceedings of the Tymoshenko case.”
