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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
During the hearing to determine pretrial restraint for the former Vice Prime Minister and former ambassador of Ukraine to the U.S., Olha Stefanishyna, an SAP prosecutor stated that she likely influenced the competition to select the head of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) through government-controlled members of the selection commission.
This was reported by the Anti-Corruption Center.
In the courtroom, the SAP prosecutor read out Stefanishyna’s correspondence with her chief — Oleksandr Bukhanyevych — in which they coordinated Ukrainian members of the commission for the NACP chair competition.
As the Anti-Corruption Center notes, Bukhanyevych, in particular, asked Stefanishyna about instructions for the selection commission.
Bukhanyevych: "Good afternoon. Today at 16 the first meeting of the NACP commission. I’d like to hear your instructions, wishes, advice before the first meeting. To be useful and not let anyone down. I think they will be choosing the commission chair, who should we support?"
Bukhanyevych then sent Stefanishyna the following message: "I want to consult about the NACP competition, when is it convenient to call?".
To that Stefanishyna replied: "Hupiak" (current NACP deputy chair Serhiy Hupiak, who previously worked at the State Bureau of Investigations, - ed.).
In addition, according to NABU and SAP evidence, Stefanishyna and Bukhanyevych coordinated candidates in advance.
In particular, there was a message from Stefanishyna with a list of candidates:
Stefanishyna: "Pavlushchyk (current head of NACP, - ed.), Stepanyan (head of the Ministry of Defense department, - ed.), Hatseliuk (member of the High Qualification Commission of Judges, - ed.), Hupiak (current deputy head of NACP, former SBI employee, - ed.)."
Stefanishyna: "Hupiak is a priority."
Bukhanyevych: "Understood."
Manual adjustment of scores
Stefanishyna also forwarded to Bukhanyevych a message about the NACP competition from an unidentified person:
"Ivanovska has started checking the NACP visions. Some visions are deviating from our scheme… Skomarov (head of the NABU detectives unit, - ed.) definitely should not be given 30 points. You should generally try to give him as few as possible, because his maximum is almost."
In response, the interlocutor forwarded her a message from a commission member:
"I know this, it was before your call, she just last night checked and he really has a great essay, sorry. I marked him "red" with a low score. Yuriychuk and Skomarov are "yellow"… What should I do now, ask if I can recheck? I’ll blow my cover. Ask?"
They also discussed that due to international experts on the commission "the candidate is in doubt":
Bukhanyevych forwarded Stefanishyna the following message: "The final list of those admitted to the final will be on Tuesday, but judging by the reaction of the international commission members they said… said that this candidate is in doubt. Andriy (likely commission member from the donor Andriy Kozlov, - ed.) will convince him, and all of them are from donors so their votes outweigh ours."
Also, the correspondence noted that one of the candidates — Hatseliuk — was about to be dropped, but a commission member (likely Alla Ivanovska, - ed.) stated:
"Natalka and I (another commission member, Natalia Onishchenko, - ed.) are doing our utmost to argue that he should be allowed through."
The prosecutor then read a forwarded message from commission member Ivanovska; there were earlier messages and comments: "But Pavlushchyk is a good job."
After that Stefanishyna forwarded a message instructing not to allow open discussion of candidates:
"Regarding the competition it’s very important to say that Onishchenko and Alla (likely commission members in the government quota Natalia Onishchenko and Alla Ivanovska, - ed.) should not support open discussion of candidates for the purpose of selecting them for final interviews. Because this proposal is very harmful."
As the Anti-Corruption Center notes, they were ready to "fight to the end" to prevent open discussion.
They also rejoiced that they pushed three needed candidates into the final: "Phew, we got three through to the final, it wasn’t easy."
Commission members also agreed on questions to ask candidates during interviews. Bukhanyevych also noted that Pavlushchyk had the highest chance of passing.
Stefanishyna was notified of suspicion
Recall that on 5 August anti-corruption bodies informed the former Vice Prime Minister for Eurointegration and former ambassador to the U.S., Olha Stefanishyna, of suspicion.
The prosecution requests as a pretrial measure for the former ambassador of Ukraine to the U.S., Olha Stefanishyna, who is suspected of illicit enrichment, bail in the amount of 13 million 100 thousand hryvnias.
It later became known that the hearing to determine pretrial restraint for the former ambassador of Ukraine to the U.S., O. Stefanishyna, who is suspected of illicit enrichment, was postponed to Thursday, 6 August.
Recall that earlier journalists from Ukrainska Pravda published an investigation stating that people from Olha Stefanishyna’s close circle obtained management of four large real estate properties through ARMA. Among those properties was, in particular, the Trade Unions Building on Independence Square.
The SAP registered a criminal proceeding that will check Stefanishyna’s possible involvement in corruption at ARMA.
Read: Minister of Justice and Vice Prime Minister for Eurointegration Stefanishyna, accused of corruption, and the secret real estate of her family
Image above: Zelensky presented the Order "For Merit" III class to Vice Prime Minister Stefanishyna. 22 December 2023 year. Photo: Office of the President
"Argument"
On this topic:
NABU informed Stefanishyna of suspicion (PHOTO)
Personnel agony: Zelensky dismissed Stefanishyna from the post of ambassador to the U.S.
Defendant Justice Minister Olha Stefanishyna: who voted and how she is being defended?
Ministers' luxury secrets: what real estate Vice Prime Ministers Kuleba and Stefanishyna are hiding?
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item ""Гупяк в пріоритеті": прокурор САП у суді засвідчив, що Стефанішина злочинно впливала на конкурс з обрання голови НАЗК". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: argumentua.com.
