Investigation of ex-deputy head of President’s Office in Germany was legal – Kryvonos
Director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) Semen Kryvonos has said the searches conducted in Germany at the former Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Stanislav Shurma were legal.
"I cannot say for sure what is happening there, what procedural actions are being taken. But some of the information is public. This is a case that concerned a guaranteed buyer, a number of companies. I cannot comment further yet, the pre-trial investigation is ongoing, it is moving forward," Kryvonos said on Wednesday in Kyiv during the international conference "Movement through Resistance. How the Anti-Corruption System Works," organized by the ezine Ukrainska Pravda. "
"The investigative actions and the actions of the detectives were absolutely legal," Kryvonos added, commenting on the words of journalist Mykhailo Tkach that Shurma himself says that he does not know about the existence of a criminal case and calls the investigative actions in Germany falsified information.
Also in this context, without giving his last name, Kryvonos added that Shurma has no procedural status in criminal proceedings, and accordingly, there is no search procedure.
As reported, on July 15, at the request of the NABU, German law enforcement officers searched the former deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Rostyslav Shurma, at his place of residence in the city of Starnberg (Bavaria) near Munich, Kryvonos said. He refused to give political assessments of the investigative actions, although he admitted that the effectiveness of the NABU could have caused a certain crisis.
Ukrainska Pravda has reported that the searches took place after the corruption scandal surrounding the then Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of National Unity Oleksiy Chernyshov subsided, whom the Specialized Anti-corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) and NABU reported on suspicion of abuse of office and receiving illegal benefits in a particularly large amount. The NABU investigation into state payments to occupied power plants began a month after the publication in 2023 of the investigation by the Bigus.Info editorial office about how the state allegedly paid Shurma's brother's solar plants for electricity during the occupation.
Shurma held the position of Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine from November 23, 2021 to September 3, 2024.