Roman Nasirov, the State Fiscal Service chief suspended amid allegations of abuse of office, won a 10-hour-delay of a late March 4 court hearing that sought to prolong his arrest.
Nasirov was arrested in the late hours of March 2 in Feofania, a hospital for top state officials, where he was supposedly treated for a heart attack.
The suspended tax service chief is suspected of illegally postponing taxes for companies associated with runaway lawmaker Oleksandr Onyshchenko, effectively helping them to evade Hr 2 billion in taxes.
Nasirov’s lawyers claimed that the arrest was illegal since Nasirov was unconscious when the detectives served him the notice of arrest.
His critics and anti-corruption activists said the illness was a way to avoid arrest. The Cabinet of Ministers suspended him as chief of the State Fiscal Service the day after his arrest.
One of Roman Nasirov’s lawyers points at his client lying on a stretcher in the courtroom at the Solomyansky District Court in Kyiv on March 4. (Volodymyr Petrov)
The case is being investigated by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office.
Nasirov’s arrest is effective for 72 hours. The prosecution sought to extend the term of his detention in a hearing before the Solomyansky District Court in Kyiv on March 4.
But the hearing, scheduled for 7 p.m., didn’t go smoothly. The beginning was delayed for more than 1.5 hours because of a bomb threat, while Nasirov was waiting in an ambulance car parked near the courthouse.
Press in the courtroom during the hearing of the case of Roman Nasirov at the Solomyansky District Court in Kyiv on March 4. (Volodymyr Petrov)
When the hearing finally started, Nasirov was brought in on a stretcher, still conscious. But soon after the beginning, his lawyers claimed he was feeling bad and called for a doctor. After a break, the trial went on.
In the end, the defense won a postponement of the hearing till 10 a.m. on the next day, March 5. His arrest expires on 9 p.m. the same day.
A suspended Chief of State Fiscal Service Roman Nasirov lies on a stretcher during his case hearing in Kyiv on March 4. (Volodymyr Petrov)
The prosecution wants Nasirov to remain in state custody along with a bail amount of Hr 2 billion. If granted, it will be the biggest bail ever set in Ukraine.
Before the court, Nasirov was inspected by doctors from the Institute of Cardiology, Ukraine’s main hospital for heart treatment. A report on the result of that inspection, obtained and published by Ukrainska Pravda, says that Nasirov doesn’t suffer from any ongoing condition.
Ukraine has a history of top officials and politicians suddenly falling ill while under investigation and even when in pretrial detention. In 2016, head of Ukrop party and a self-proclaimed Ukraine’s corporate raider No. 1 Gennady Korban suffered from a heart condition and had to undergo a surgery after being arrested on a suspicion of organizing a crime group. He was eventually let go and put under house arrest, but then allowed to leave for Israel to get treatment.
In 2013, then-Head of Tax University Petro Melnyk fainted in the courtroom during a hearing in his bribery case. He was placed under house arrest, fled abroad, but returned and was subsequently released on bail.
