President Volodymyr Zelensky’s deputy chief of staff, Oleh Tatarov, has requested that he be temporarily relieved of his official duties, just days after he was issued a notice of suspicion on bribery charges.
Tatarov made the request due to the “significant societal resonance” of his case and in order to avoid “any manipulative interpretations,” Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to the President’s Office, told the Ukrainska Pravda news outlet on Dec. 21.
Earlier that day, Tatarov also came to the office of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) to speak with investigators.
“In the coming days, I will prove that (the case) is a fake and not an investigation, and I will show the entire public that the actions taken against me are not legitimate,” he told journalists after the meeting.
NABU suspects Tatarov of bribing a police expert to forge an evaluation that allegedly helped an embezzlement scheme run by a development company with close ties to the deputy chief of staff.
On Dec. 18, the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office issued a notice of suspicion for Tatarov, after a multi-week confrontation between the official and NABU, during which Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova, allegedly attempted to block the case by reassigning it to a new group of prosecutors.
During this struggle with NABU, the deputy chief of staff went on the offensive, denouncing the bureau and its chief, Artem Sytnyk, and contradicting the presidential administration’s official position of supporting the anti-graft agency.
Tatarov also claimed that NABU was controlled by foreign entities, pushing a conspiracy that is popular with pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine.
Tatarov is currently under investigation in a case connected to Maksym Mykytas, a former lawmaker and ex-president of state-owned construction company Ukrbud. The former MP has been charged with engaging in embezzlement while carrying out a construction contract for Ukraine’s National Guard.
Investigators allege that Tatarov, who previously served as Ukrbud’s lawyer, bribed a forensic expert on behalf of Mykytas to get false evaluation results that benefited the company. Tatarov has denied the allegations.
