Fire in Courthouse Delaying Corruption Investigations

A fire on the night of June 13 is delaying anti-corruption cases at Solomianskyi district court in Kyiv, according to [ed.: the text of this hyperlink is in the Ukrainian language] the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) .

NABU detectives have submitted approximately 150 procedural motions to the court "that were pending decision." On Monday, June 13, the Bureau didn’t receive any "official confirmation that Solomianskyi court is unable to consider the submitted motions."

"Moreover, NABU detectives and anti-corruption prosecutors have filed two indictments with the court. So far, no information is available about their fate," NABU stresses. It adds that on Monday following the fire, the detectives were about to "submit over ten motions to the court."

The fire prevented planned searches, thus forcing the investigators to change their tactics, NABU commented. Under normal conditions, the court was able to consider several procedural motions each day associated with the pre-trial investigations of NABU. Since early 2016, over 1,000 motions were considered in total.

NABU urges all the parties engaged in the investigation and fire response to ensure prompt resumption of the court’s operation, as the failure to resume work shortly would negatively affect NABU investigations. At the same time, the fire "would not prevent NABU from investigating corruption offences, only put certain procedural actions on hold," NABU commented.

Source: Ukrayinska Pravda