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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
The notice of suspicion for former Ukrainian ambassador to the United States Olha Stefanishyna was not connected to her dismissal from the post. This was stated by the head of the SAPO (Specialized Anti-Carantine Prosecutor's Office), Oleksandr Klymenko, during a briefing, according to a correspondent for Glavkom.
According to Klymenko, before announcing a suspicion for any defendant, an NABU detective contacts a prosecutor of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office after gathering the necessary materials. The prosecutor studies the evidence and approves the procedural document.
“We notify about suspicion when a sufficient amount of materials has been collected,” Klymenko explained.
The head of SAPO noted that the suspicion is handed out on the day the corresponding procedural document is signed. Therefore the very fact of Stefanishyna's dismissal from the post is not a reason to announce suspicion exactly after this.
Klymenko also commented on information regarding possible influence by Stefanishyna on competition commissions that select heads of state bodies. He stated that this possible influence is not the subject of the investigation in Stefanishyna's case. Prosecutors used the relevant information during the court session to justify risks during the selection of a preventive measure.
“It is only a risk; it is not the subject of the investigation,” emphasized the SAPO head.
According to Klymenko, the investigation did not further study Stefanishyna's potential influence on competition commissions within this proceeding. At the same time, the SAPO head spoke about the need to change the legislation. In his words, interference in the work of competition commissions requires a separate regulation.
“We need to work to criminalize in some way interference in the work of competition commissions,” said Klymenko.
As a reminder, 6 in August, the investigative judge of the High Anti-Corruption Court applied a preventive measure in the form of a bail of 6 million UAH to the former vice prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine. NABU suspects Stefanishyna of illegal enrichment and submitting knowingly false information in her declaration. According to the investigation, the ambassador's declarations lack information about two apartments in Kyiv, expenses on their repairs, rent of housing, use of a Mercedes-Benz car, as well as data on payment for air tickets and her mother’s treatment.
According to reports, in 2025 the year, journalists from Hromadske published an investigation into Stefanishyna family property. In particular, they drew attention to discrepancies between her declarations and information from state registries regarding her mother's real estate.
Back then Stefanishyna stated that her parents invested in an apartment in the residential complex “Lvivska Ploshcha” in Kyiv in 2019, when one square meter cost 29 thousand UAH. Hefty, she claimed, that is why the apartment's value was almost four times lower than market.
Note that as early as 2020 Stefanishyna received suspicion in the NABU case, in which the former justice minister of Viktor Yanukovych, Olena Lukash, also appears. Nevertheless, Stefanishyna held the posts of vice prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration, minister of justice, and later was appointed ambassador of Ukraine to the United States.
By the way, not long ago, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed Olha Stefanishyna from the post of Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States. However, she described her dismissal as her own decision.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Керівник САП пояснив, чому підозра Стефанішиній з’явилася після її звільнення". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: ZmiOne.
