The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine has said the Security Service (SSU) is carrying out investigative actions against its former detectives, which may signal growing pressure on anti-corruption bodies.
Source: National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) on Telegram
Quote: "The National Bureau reports that today the SSU is conducting investigative actions against former detectives of the National Bureau (who are now employees of Ukrzaliznytsia [the Ukrainian state-run railway operator – ed.]).
Details: NABU said the SSU’s actions are likely linked to the detectives’ earlier work on investigations that had exposed organised criminal groups within state-owned companies and government agencies, particularly the SSU itself.
“Such actions may indicate increased systemic pressure on the independence of anti-corruption institutions,” NABU said.
Background:
On 21 July, it became known that NABU employees were being investigated without court warrants by employees of the SSU and the Office of the Prosecutor General. Police special forces and law enforcement officers conducted approximately 80 searches of 19 Bureau employees in various oblasts of Ukraine.Earlier, the Security Service of Ukraine and the Office of the Prosecutor General said they had uncovered a Russian intelligence infiltration within the National Anti-Corruption Bureau. A source told Ukrainska Pravda that the person in question was Viktor Husarov.At the time of the mass searches, the heads of both anti-corruption agencies – NABU and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office – were away on a business trip to London.This later led to notices of suspicion being served on the employees of the anti-corruption agencies.On 8 September, the SSU and the Office of the Prosecutor General announced that Viktor Husarov, a NABU employee detained in July, was part of a large Russian intelligence network. Three other previously exposed agents were also involved. They had access to state secrets and restricted documents, used covert methods, and had been passing information to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) for years.The SSU also claims that Ruslan Mahamedrasulov, head of one of the NABU’s interregional detective departments, “has contacts with representatives of the aggressor country and helps his father, who is a businessman, conduct illegal trade with the Russian Federation”.
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