Officials' status will not help them: Ukraine's Prosecutor General comments on notices of suspicion handed over to corrupt statesmen

Andrii Kostin, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, has commented on today's conducted searches and served notices of suspicion to former and current Ukrainian officials. 

Source: Kostin on Facebook

Quote from Kostin: "[Here's] My signal to all officials at all levels, wherever they are: there will be no return to the past. Ukraine is following the European path and will not deviate from it."

Details: The Prosecutor General reiterated that the power assumes responsibility. "If you refuse to live by the law, you’ll face criminal responsibility," he stressed.

According to Kostin, four officials have been served with a notice of suspicion today: former deputy defence minister; former minister of energy and coal industry, and current and former officials of the Ministry of Defence. The top management of PJSC Ukrtatnafta has been served a notice of suspicion as a result of the investigative actions.

In addition, an official of Odesa Oblast Military Administration was exposed for a bribe of $40,000 for land fraud. "In accordance with the results of today's searches, procedural decisions will be made," Kostin emphasised.

Background: 

• On 1 February, Davyd Arakhamiia, Head of the Servant of the People party faction, announced the dismissal of the entire management team of the State Customs Service and the imprisonment of corrupted staff in the spring.
• On 1 February, Ukrainian security forces and law enforcement officers conduct a series of searches among various officials and serve notices of suspicion. In particular, the searches were conducted at State Tax Service in Kyiv; oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky’s house regarding Ukrnafta company; the property of Arsen Avakov, former Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, and the house of Vadym Stolar, a Kyiv property developer and a member or parliament from the banned Russian-backed Opposition Platform – For Life party.
• The Prosecutor General's Office served notices of suspicion to Bohdan Khmelnytskyi, former Deputy Director of the Defence Ministry's public procurement department; Viacheslav Shapovalov, former Deputy Defence Minister, and Volodymyr Tereshchenko, Former Deputy Director of the state-owned company Promoboronexport.
• On 23 January, Arakhamiia said that corrupted officials would face responsibility and announced the imprisonment of corrupted staff in the spring.

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