Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has condemned any actions which may hinder the work of journalists, calling them interference in their professional work, the president’s press secretary Siatoslav Tseholko has said.
“We spoke after returning from Austria about the situation involving 1+1 TV channel journalists and Poroshenko was categorical: any actions regarded by journalists as interference in their professional work is not permissible,” Tseholko said on his Facebook page on Friday.
Earlier in the day, the press service of the 1+1 Channel said the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) asked nationalized PrivatBank to divulge information about transfers made by 1+1 employees, whose beneficiary is former PrivatBank owner Ihor Kolomoisky.
“On February 8, the we obtained a copy of the NBU request … to divulge information about banking transfers of top managers of the channel, including journalists and television anchors of 1+1 media, as well as employees of the independent production unit that produces content for our media group,” the 1+1 statement said, adding that the channel regards the move as an attempt to exert pressure by top government officials on the channels employees.
NBU deputy head Kateryna Rozhkova, in turn, said as a result of the forensic audit of PrivatBank conducted by the Kroll company the NBU requested information about the financial operations of more than 6,000 individuals, 50 of whom were shareholders and managers of the 1+1 media holding belonging to the former PrivatBank owner.
“The investigation showed a series of small transactions, which may be illegal. In particular, they may be connected with money laundering or attempts to evade taxes. The NBU is obliged the check these operations, rule out such violations or confirm they took place,” Rozhkova said, adding that the NBU regulator does not have the grants of authority to divulge information about these individuals.
“We will try to find out who leaked information,” she said, adding that the document in the publication is not registered and resembles a NBU draft memo.
