You're reading: SAPO demanding seizure of $300,000 in Nasirov’s British bank accounts

The prosecutor of the Specialized Anti-corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) has insisted on the seizure of almost $300,000 in British accounts of ex-chief of Ukraine’s State Fiscal Service (SFS) Roman Nasirov, which he did not declare for three years, SAPO’s press service has said.

SAPO said it had brought up the matter during the Nasirov trial in Kyiv’s Shevchenkivsky district court.

“It was established that the ex-SFS head for at least three years had at his disposal funds in the amount of $297,370 in an account at a financial institution in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. However, this money was not mentioned in any of the declarations of the accused during his tenure as civil servant, with the exception of his declaration for becoming a presidential candidate. We filed a court petition immediately after informing the accused of the identification of these funds by law enforcement agencies,” SAPO said.

The court, at the request of the defense, announced a recess until 11:00 a.m. on Feb. 14 to familiarize the defense with the petition, SAPO’s press service said.

During the trial, the prosecutors read out 27 pages of the 462-page indictment.

Nasirov previously worked in securities trading companies before being elected to parliament in the fall of 2014 on the Bloc of Petro Poroshenko ticket. He became the SFS’s head on May 5, 2015.

As earlier reported, in the early hours of March 3, 2017, SAPO detectives detained Nasirov as part of an investigation into the restructuring of rental payments for natural gas production of companies associated with member of parliament Oleksandr Onyshchenko, who left Ukraine and now lives abroad.

On March 3, 2017, the Cabinet of Ministers suspended Nasirov as SFS head and appointed Myroslav Prodan as acting head of the agency. He was dismissed on Jan. 31, 2018.

SAPO in November 2017 approved and sent to the court an indictment drawn up by the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) based on the results of the pretrial investigation.

Nasirov and his subordinate are accused of committing a crime under Part 2 of Article 364 (abuse of official position, resulting in serious consequences) of Ukraine’s Criminal Code. Nasirov is also charged with committing a crime under Part 2 of Article 366 (official forgery, entailing grave consequences) of Ukraine’s Criminal Code.

Ukraine’s Central Election Commission on Jan. 21 registered Nasirov as a candidate in Ukraine’s March 31 presidential elections.