Poroshenko demands guarantees against attacks on anti-corruption bodies, calls for SBI overhaul
Restoring trust in the authorities after the corruption scandal in the energy sector requires a reformatting of the coalition, the government, guarantees of non-attack on the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), and a complete reboot of the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI), Member of Parliament and leader of the European Solidarity party Petro Poroshenko has said.
"One of the key steps to restoring trust is guarantees of non-attack on the part of the authorities on NABU and SAPo. Now everyone understands why the Office attacked them in the summer. Because they knew about the recordings, remembered what they talked about, and wanted to stifle the case in its very beginning. Now NABU must bring these cases to an end, wherever the corruption trail leads. The SBI must receive a clear signal not to interfere in the work of NABU and stop the pressure, and this signal must come from the President," Poroshenko said in a video message published on the political force’s website.
At the same time, he demands, and recalls that this was also a demand of European partners, "a complete reboot of the SBI based on a transparent competition with the participation of international experts."
The politician also announced an anti-crisis plan, which will be presented to the Verkhovna Rada on Monday.
He noted that the names of at least five government officials appear in the published records from the materials of the investigation into corruption in the energy sector, "and this is only what we know about," so, according to him, the entire Cabinet "must finally resign in full."
"It’s not about personalities, but about the system of governance. Not just about replacing the government, but about returning it to political subjectivity. Like the parliament. Ukraine is a parliamentary-presidential republic, and it is on the basis of this norm that it is necessary to form a new, capable coalition instead of the one that de facto currently exists in the parliament… A new coalition that will unite all patriotic political forces should form a government of national salvation from specialists with an impeccable reputation," Poroshenko said.
On November 10, NABU and SAPO announced a large-scale operation to expose corruption in the energy sector, which was called "Midas." The activities of a high-level criminal organization have been documented, whose members built a large-scale corruption scheme to influence strategic state-sector enterprises, in particular Energoatom. Energoatom confirmed the conduct of investigative actions in the company on November 10.
Among the participants in the "Midas" scheme identified by the NABU are a member of the National Energy Regulator Serhiy Pushkar, businessman Tymur Mindich, former executive director for physical protection and security of Energoatom Dmytro Basov, and former advisor to the Minister of Energy, and previously deputy head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine Ihor Myroniuk.
