Ukraine’s anti-graft agencies have on Tuesday accused a senior official from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) of demanding a $300,000 bribe from a person to destroy evidence on a case related to the illegal smuggling of conscripts abroad.
The high-profile case, initiated by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), came a day after the SBU raided the offices of the two agencies.
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It is unclear if the incidents are related.
NABU said the SBU official demanded a $300,000 bribe from a person “under operative surveillance” without disclosing his or her identity.
“According to the investigation, the SBU official, together with accomplices, demanded $300,000 from a person under operative surveillance in a case concerning the illegal organization of conscript smuggling abroad,” NABU said in a press release.
In exchange for the money, the SBU officer promised to destroy part of the case materials and disclose already established facts, and in case of refusal, threatened to take steps to increase the punishment, according to NABU.
The officer was detained after receiving $72,000.
A SAPO prosecutor announced that the pre-trial investigation has been completed against the head of a sector within the SBU’s Department for the Protection of National Statehood and two others.
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It is noted that, as of now, NABU detectives have disclosed the case materials to the defense for review, as instructed by the SAPO prosecutor.
The case unfolds amid heightened tensions between Ukraine’s law enforcement agencies.
On Tuesday, just a day after the SBU’s raids on NABU and SAPO, Ukraine’s parliament hastily advanced a bill stripping NABU and SAPO of their independence from executive power – a move that could deal a major blow to the country’s anti-corruption efforts.
Critics suspect the raids to be a retaliation for NABU’s case against former Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov.
A few weeks prior, NABU issued a suspicion notice to Chernyshov for fraud, potentially costing billions of hryvnias – tens of millions of dollars – in state losses.
Lawmaker Oleksiy Honcharenko, writing on Facebook, said the raids on NABU took place only after the charges were laid against Chernyshov, suggesting the raids were a retaliation against NABU over the Chernyshov case.
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