Activists, MPs, political analysts, entrepreneurs differ in their views on reasons and consequences of investigative actions at NABU, SAPO
Head of the Mezha anti-corruption center Martyna Bohuslavets believes that the reason for investigative actions against the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) are cases against representatives and entourage of the current government.
"Today, the President's Office through the SBU received access to 658 criminal cases that are being investigated by NABU... But what's even worse is that Bankova received access not only to already opened criminal cases. But also to those materials where suspicions were only being prepared. So there they are. Now there will be none. Because now they will warn all their own people," Bohuslavets said on Facebook.
According to her, the President's Office received access to all secret special operations planned by the NABU and SAPO, and "this is a step to stop all future cases of top-level corruption of officials and block the work of the NABU and SAPO."
Political strategist, Head of the Center for Political Intelligence Oleh Posternak said the NABU and its employees are not untouchable and privileged, and if law enforcement officers have reason to believe that they worked for Russia, "this is a huge blow to the reputation of this institution." "Obviously, it needs a complete reboot and audit," he said.
Lawyer, financier, PhD in Politics, Executive Director of the International Association of Small Communities Oleksiy Buriachenko called the investigative actions "a forced opening of cans in the NABU." "If a law enforcement agency does not strive for self-purification, it will be purged somehow," he said on Facebook, adding that he would be interested in following the reaction of "our grant structures" and supporters of the political opposition in this context.
MP from the European Solidarity party Volodymyr Ariev said the key reason for the mass searches in the NABU and SAPO without court warrants pursues two goals: "the first is to gain access to all information about anti-corruption investigations into Zelenskyy's government officials; the second is to undermine trust in anti-corruption agencies and make them incompetent in general."
"The rollback of reforms and the curtailment of democracy stem from a sense of impunity... Absolute power corrupts absolutely. It has been proven wherever possible. Sole power without checks and balances will always become a dictatorship," he said on Facebook.
MP from the Holos faction Yaroslav Zhelezniak commented on the investigative actions as follows: "Instead of rebooting the BES, the NABU will be unloaded." He also believes that the SBU came to the SAPO under the pretext of checking compliance with state secrets and received access to all their investigations and operational measures. "This, frankly, was very much expected," he said on Facebook.
He also reposted the opinion of editor-in-chief of the Our Money (Nashi Hroshi) project Oleksiy Shalaisky, who believes that the SBU applied against the NABU the scheme that it tested on entrepreneurs: "accusations of treason for any economic relations with Russian counterparties, or rather, not for relations, but for the theoretical possibility of such relations."
"This scheme was born because the Criminal Code does not clearly describe whether such economic relations are a crime, and if so, what the punishment should be. Therefore, the SBU independently came up with the idea that this is treason, and began to use this extremely serious article for all such cases. It is clear that with such an extralegal interpretation, the investigation has no chance in court. But the logic of the scheme is not to transfer the case to court, but to obtain the right to conduct searches, interrogations, seizures and, at the same time, raise a wave of black PR against the client," Shalaisky said.
He also expressed his belief that the specific case against NABU "was not launched for the triumph of justice, but for the sake of the mercantile interests of the investigation, because hundreds of entrepreneurs have gone the same way."
"Only the legislator can resolve this situation by clearly defining what constitutes treason in the economy and what does not. The Supreme Court could do this, but such cases do not reach it," Shalaisky said.
Entrepreneur, co-founder of the Mykhailivsky Club analytical platform Vladyslav Olenchenko said 70 searches of 15 NABU employees are a large-scale operational measures, and believes that this may be related to the threat to Ukraine's national security from the United States.
"In general, this entire anti-corruption infrastructure was created by the U.S. deep state to solve the problem of control by the political elite in Ukraine. With the arrival of Trump, such control poses a direct threat to Ukraine's national security, obviously. Unfortunately, the FSB is also solving a similar problem, and the control of the political elite in Ukraine by the Kremlin poses an even greater threat," Olenchenko said on Facebook.
"I wonder if, in addition to FSB agents, they will find at least one agent of other countries' special services in NABU?", he said.
Head of the Ukrainian Security Club, NGO Foundation for the Promotion of Democracy Yuriy Honcharenko said he has questions about the work of both NABU and SAPO, as well as the SBU, SBI and the prosecutor's office.
"Since those who conduct searches today are no less concerned than those they search, I believe that there is a real risk that the situation will be used to build the power vertical of the dictatorship. NABU and SAPO need to be restarted, but the same applies to the State Bureau of Investigations and the State Security Service of Ukraine. The latter has wonderful heroes who weave webs, and departments that 'do not see' Russian agents in the rear," Honcharenko said on Facebook.
As reported, NABU confirmed in the morning that 15 of its employees are being searched. According to them, the grounds for these actions in the vast majority of cases are the participation of individuals in road accidents. Later, three NABU employees were reported suspected of committing road accidents that resulted in the injuries of the victims.