Ukrainian prosecutors accused of using force against operative amid conflict with anti-graft agency
Prosecutors searched the house of an employee of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and allegedly used physical force against him on Nov. 4, the bureau said in a statement.
The Prosecutor General's Office told the Ukrainian news outlet Ukrainska Pravda that the employee "organized surveillance of the administrative building of the Prosecutor General’s Office, which is a restricted facility." The office did not respond to requests for comment on whether force was used against the NABU employee.
The report comes amid a conflict between the NABU one the one hand and the President's Office, the Prosecutor General's Office and other law enforcement agencies on the other.
Anti-corruption activists argue that the President's Office is seeking to crack down on the NABU after its investigators targeted top allies of President Volodymyr Zelensky. The President's Office, which did not respond to requests for comment, has portrayed the crackdown as an attempt to counteract Russia's alleged influence on the bureau.
The searches targeting the NABU employee were conducted at 3 a.m., and no charges were brought against him, the bureau said.
"The search was conducted without a court warrant and is likely connected to the employee’s direct performance of professional duties," the NABU said.
The bureau also said that the employee "is involved in documenting a number of corruption cases and has always acted strictly within the framework of Ukrainian law." The NABU added that "covert surveillance of the employee was carried out on the eve of the searches."
The Prosecutor General's Office told Ukrainska Pravda that security guards had "discovered and identified who was carrying out the covert actions" near the Prosecutor General's Office.
"During the search, he confirmed that he was a NABU employee and stated that he was carrying out instructions from his superiors," the Prosecutor General's Office added.
The Prosecutor General's Office also said in a statement that it had opened a criminal case into allegedly illegal surveillance.
The move is the latest twist in an ongoing conflict between the authorities and the NABU.
The confrontation began in July, when Zelensky signed a law that subordinated the NABU to the prosecutor general, an official appointed by the president. The bureau's independence was later restored following large-scale protests.
A day before the law was signed, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) searched NABU premises and detained NABU detective Ruslan Mahamedrasulov and his father, charging them with "aiding the aggressor state" — Russia.
The SBU suspects Mahamedrasulov and his father of planning to serve as intermediaries in cannabis sales to the Russian republic of Dagestan.
The key controversy is that the audio recording at the center of the case is of poor quality. The SBU's critics and Mahamedrasulov's interlocutor in the recording, Yusuf Mameshev, argue that Uzbekistan, not Dagestan, is mentioned in the tape.
On Oct. 23, the State Investigation Bureau charged Mameshev, who testified in the case, with perjury — something that the Anti-Corruption Action Center considers to be illegal pressure on Mahamedrasulov.
Following the initial raids, the NABU and law enforcement agencies loyal to the President's Office have been actively working against each other.
In September, the NABU charged Illia Vitiuk, former head of the SBU's cybersecurity, with illicit enrichment and lying in his asset declaration. The Security Service responded by charging Vitaly Tebekin, a NABU detective, with lying in his asset declaration.
Later the same month the SBU searched the property of Taras Likunov, a former NABU detective and brother of Olena Shcherban, Mahamedrasulov's defense attorney and an expert at the Anti-Corruption Action Center.
On Oct. 9, the NABU also charged a prosecutor and lawyers with extorting a $3.5 million bribe.
Oleg Sukhov
