SAPO head on detectives' case: No one ever provides real evidence of law violations

Anti-corruption agencies have not received real evidence of law violations by detectives of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), Head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) Oleksandr Klymenko said in an interview with Dzerkalo Tyzhnia published on Thursday.

"Indeed, the independence of NABU and SAPO was upheld, people parted ways, but we must not forget that two detectives remained in custody. And this situation somehow affects the mood within NABU and SAPO," Klymenko said.

He also said: "The team does not understand why their colleagues are in prison, and no one has ever provided real evidence of law violations by these people."

According to the SAPO head, some detectives have begun to "very cautiously investigate serious cases involving the Security Service or top officials."

"Caution has appeared not only among prosecutors and detectives, but also among people who cooperate with us. As they are afraid of being exposed, including those in official positions," he added.

Answering the question of whether there is communication with the SBU regarding the arrested detectives, in particular Ruslan Magomedrasulov, the SAPO head said: "The NABU director communicates with the head of the Security Service. NABU sent a request asking to provide evidence, since open official investigations concern the detained detectives and the director needs to understand the real situation in order to make personnel decisions. But, as far as I know, no materials have been provided to NABU yet. The appeal has also been postponed to the end of August."

As reported, the State Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) stated that they had exposed one of the heads of interregional detective departments of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), Ruslan Magomedrasulov, as doing business in Russia.