Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, head of the Security Service of Ukraine -- better known as the SBU -- clashed on June 15 with the Prosecutor General’s Office after accusing ex-Prosecutor General Anatoly Danylenko of covering up alleged corruption at oil firm BRSM-Nafta and co-owning the company.
During the standoff, Nalyvaichenko said he would send the Alfa special forces unit to the prosecutor’s office to arrest Danylenko, which was perceived by some as a threat. His statements triggered speculation on whether President Petro Poroshenko was unhappy with Nalyvaichenko and whether the SBU head may have to resign.
The conflict was accompanied by accusations by Serhiy Leshchenko, a Petro Poroshenko Bloc lawmaker, that Nalyvaichenko is a protégé of exiled tycoon Dmytro Firtash, an ex-ally of ousted President Viktor Yanukovych. Olena Hiklianska, a spokeswoman for the SBU, said by phone she could not comment on the allegations.
The scandal also comes amid a fire at the BRSM-Nafta oil depot southwest of Kyiv that has continued since June 8 and a criminal investigation into its reasons.
Last week the Prosecutor General’s Office, its ex-head Vitaly Yarema and his deputy Anatoly Danylenko came under fire for halting a criminal case against BRSM-Nafta into the sale of hazardous substances last year.
Oleksandr Melnychuk, head of BRSM-Nafta’s strategic marketing department, told the Kyiv Post the firm was not linked to Danylenko. He said employees of the company had even held a rally last year to protest against Danylenko’s orders to shut down its gas filling stations.
Nalyvaichenko was questioned by the Prosecutor General’s Office on June 15 as a witness in the Danylenko case.
“We demand that the Prosecutor General’s Office arrest this man,” Nalyvaichenko said. “We demand decisive action, and tomorrow I will be (at the Prosecutor General’s Office) again. I’ll come with the Alfa special forces unit to get permission to arrest this suspect and bring him in for questioning.”
Nalyvaichenko’s spokesman Markian Lubkivsky ktreated the interrogation as an insult, saying that prosecutors did not have to question Nalyvaichenko and only had to request documents on the case from the SBU.
“These procedural actions contradict common sense and the powers of the Prosecutor General’s Office regarding criminal prosecution,” Lubkivsky said.
Speculation on Nalyvaichenko’s disagreements with the president started on June 14, when Lubkivsky wrote on Facebook that the Presidential Administration banned Nalyvaichenko from going to the U.S., where he was planning to present proof of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
Meanwhile, on June 12, Nalyvaichenko fired all top officials of the SBU’s anti-corruption department without the president’s authorization, Leshchenko wrote on Facebook on June 14.
He argued that Nalyvaichenko’s recent statements were a way to protect himself from an impending resignation. Leshchenko attributed Poroshenko’s alleged desire to fire Nalyvaichenko to his attempts to oust Firtash allies after the tycoon’s recent claim that he had reached a backdoor deal with Poroshenko before he was elected in May 2014.
Poroshenko’s spokesman Sviatoslav Tsegolko was not available for comment, while Tsegolko’s deputy Andrei Zhigulin said he could not comment on the issue.
“Nalyvaichenko is a protégé of Firtash and (Yanukovych’s former chief of staff Serhiy) Lyovochkin at the SBU,” Leshchenko wrote.
Nalyvaichenko was appointed to the SBU as a representative of Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko, who is also a protégé of Lyovochkin and Firtash, Leshchenko claimed. Nalyvaichenko is a member of Klitchko’s UDAR party.
Klitchko has repeatedly denied ties to Firtash and Lyovochkin.
Leshchenko also alleged he had evidence proving that Nalyvaichenko covered up Firtash’s alleged crimes, which had a negative impact on Ukraine’s relations with the U.S., while Lubkivskyi used to work for a firm linked to Lyovochkin. Lubkivskyi was not available by phone.
Leshchenko told the Kyiv Post by phone he had a document showing that Nalyvaichenko banned a U.S. citizen whose business had been seized by Firtash from entering Ukraine. However, he could not be more specific because the document is secret.
“I think the resignation of Nalyvaichenko and Lubkivskyi would be a logical way out of this story,” he wrote on Facebook.
When Nalyvaichenko became a member of the Verkhovna Rada in 2012, there was already speculation that he was a Firtash protégé, political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko, head of the Penta think-tank, said by phone. Recent statements by Mikhail Papiev, an Opposition Bloc member and an alleged ally of Firtash, in which he defended Nalyvaichenko confirm Leshchenko’s suspicions, Fesenko added.
“Links to Firtash and games with people from the previous administration are dangerous for Nalyvaichenko,” he said.
Fesenko also said that the president could be unhappy with Nalyvaichenko’s performance and the SBU’s activities, comparing the situation to ex-Prosecutor General Vitaly Yarema’s resignation in Feburary.
Both Nalyvaichenko and Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin have been criticized for failing to prevent the flight from Ukraine earlier this month of lawmaker Serhiy Klyuyev, a Yanukovych ally who is accused of embezzlement and fraud. Critics suspect that Klyuyev paid law enforcement agencies a bribe to escape punishment.
Last year Nalyvaichenko and Interior Minister Arsen Avakov were also accused of helping Yanukovych to escape, Fesenko argued. Yanukovych’s flight was accompanied by that of numerous allies of the ex-president.
Another complaint against the SBU may be linked to alleged corruption at the agency.
“We may witness the beginning of a major corruption scandal involving high-ranking officials from law enforcement agencies, including the SBU,” Fesenko said.
Last year SBU officials were accused of creating corruption schemes and running protection rackets for smuggling, exports and imports, he said. In March ex-Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Deputy Governor Hennady Korban accused SBU officials of running a protection racket for smuggling of goods into occupied territories and said that Nalyvaichenko should resign if this information is confirmed.
The SBU’s press service was not available to comment on the allegations.
“Nalyvaichenko chose mistaken tactics by creating scandals and making accusations. He should recall how the story of (ex-Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Governor Ihor) Kolomoisky, who also threatened to bring armed people, ended,” Fesenko said, referring to Kolomoisky’s resignation following a conflict with Poroshenko and his arrival with armed guards to the premises of a state oil firm he sought to control.
Kyiv Post staff writer Oleg Sukhov can be reached at [email protected]
