You're reading: PGO says more than a dozen current MPs figure in large Yanukovych case

More than a dozen of lawmakers in power figure in the case related to the creation of a criminal group by former disgraced president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych, but they have not yet been notified about it, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko has said.

“I do not support announcements of sending requests to the Verkhovna Rada. The investigation is underway. As soon as enough facts are established, requests will be sent. Now we are working on cases in which many [Ukrainian] lawmakers involved – at least 15 cases. This does not mean that tomorrow I can submit requests,” Lutsenko said to 112.ua television channel on Nov. 5.

He said that at present there are enough facts for sending request to the parliament only for MP from Opposition Block Vadim Novinsky, who is the companion in a crime committed by Yanukovych, who wanted to impose control over the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

“I want to stress that this is one of the Yanukovych’s cases. It was not enough to usurp control over the Verkhovna Rada, Cabinet of Ministers and judicial system. He wanted to control religious life of Ukraine. Deceased Metropolitan Volodymyr, who was hugely influential on the faithful, became the person on whom law enforcers unlawfully pressed. They deprived one of his closest friends – Metropolitan Drabynko – of his will to force him to leave the post under an order made by Yanukovych,” Lutsenko said.

He said that there are witness testimonies of not only Oleksandr Drabynko, but other persons.

Earlier Lutsenko said that by late 2016 Prosecutor General’s Office will send the case against officials of the Yanukovych regime under Article 255 of the Criminal Code (creation of a criminal group) to court.