In the Bribe Case Detainee Mazurova, Messages Found Between Her and National Police Investigator Dmytro But and an Order Signed by Venediktova

The woman detained on bribery, Mazurova, was found to have exchanged messages with the National Police investigator Dmytro But and a ruling signed by Venediktova.

In the bribery case involving the oligarch Zlochevsky, Mazurova was found to have exchanged messages with National Police investigator But, who secured a ruling on changing the case’s sub judice status regarding the Chernihiv CHP, signed by Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova.

As is known, during the investigation of the bribery case involving the leadership’ s closure of the case of oligarch Mykola Zlochevsky, NABU and SAP detained three people who were transferring 6 millions of dollars. One of them was Olena Mazurova, a trusted associate of Zlochevsky, who, as the investigation suggests, was attempting to close also a number of other criminal cases against her partners.

According to a source at Censor.NET within law enforcement, the investigation gained access to Mazurova’s subscriber correspondence with Dmytro Serhiyovych But. The number and name matched with... the name of one of the heads of the Main Investigation Department of the National Police, Dmytro But (we will not assert that it is him now; only a court can make final conclusions).

According to Censor.NET, detectives from NABU, on this basis, conducted searches of But himself to find evidence that the correspondence was with him and from his mobile devices. However, at present, no charges have been brought against But.

What did Mazurova’s and But’s subscribers discuss (only a court can confirm that these were indeed them)? According to our sources, the investigation managed to establish a connection Mazurova (a former senior tax service official under Yanukovych) had with another oligarch — Anatoliy Shkriblyak, who owns four combined-heat-and-power plants — Darnytska in Kyiv, Sumy, Cherkasy, and Chernihiv.

Five criminal proceedings were opened against these companies — one at the National Police, one at the SBU, one at the DBR, and two at the Office of the Prosecutor General. The main subject of investigation were schemes of coal supplies from the Russian Federation and occupied territories and schemes of funding via offshore structures.

And here is something interesting — the DBR case was closed in February 2020 of year. The case was opened in 2019, by investigator Frantsevich, who enjoyed the trust of the DBR leadership at the time — Roman Truba, Olga Varchenko, Oleg Koretsky. The case was closed in DBR under Olga Varchenko, with the investigation department headed by Oleksandr Turu, and the case closed by Frantsevich himself. All these officials, credit where due, were dismissed by new leadership — Iryna Venediktova and acting head of the DBR Oleksandr Sokolov, or were forced to resign. The circumstances of closing this case now also raise questions.

So the second case — in Chernihiv SBU, Mazurova apparently could not close it due to what seems to be her arrest. Media reported that Mazurova personally corresponded with Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova. However our sources say that this is false information. Judging by the investigators’ data, Mazurova had no contacts with Venediktova — she tried to resolve issues in the General Prosecutor’s Office through But. And this was done not just for nothing — discussions included figures for changing the sub jurisdiction.

Also, according to sources, Mazurova mentions a contact in the Security Service of Ukraine’s Department of Counterintelligence Economic Protection of the State, someone named Ermenchuk. According to Censor.NET sources, the first deputy head of the DKZED is Oleksandr Yermenchuk, appointed to a high post by the decision of SBU head Ivan Bakanov.

The essence of the matter was the transfer of the case opened under the financing of terrorism article concerning the Chernihiv TPP from the Chernihiv SBU to the Main Investigation Department of the National Police, where But serves, who could influence the subsequent closing of the case. And in June 2020 the decision to transfer the Chernihiv case from the SBU to the National Police was made, signed by Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova.

Censor.NET reached out to the General Prosecutor’s Office for clarification. We received an unofficial explanation. Venediktova did not communicate with But on this issue. However, the matter was far from ordinary — the question of changing sub jurisdiction for the scandalous Chernihiv case was reviewed for a briefing to Venediktova by two deputies of the Prosecutor General — Oleksiy Symonenko and Ihor Mustatsya — who took responsibility for studying the materials. And after their briefing, Venediktova personally signed the ruling. This ruling, as sources say, was transmitted by But’s subscriber to Mazurova’s subscriber for confirmation. The argument was to merge the SBU and National Police productions into one case, to increase investigative efficiency. Logically — if not for knowing about But and Mazurova’s correspondence. After all, Mazurova also cooperated with the head of the Organizational Support Department of the Unified Register of Pretrial Investigations of the General Prosecutor’s Office, Iryna Bakay, in the case about paying a bribe. It was from Bakay’s key that the case against Zlochevsky was controlled for closure.

The National Police received the majority of the Chernihiv case; however, a full transfer from the SBU was blocked by Mazurova’s arrest during the handover of the bribe 12 in June. And 6 in August the General Prosecutor’s Office issued a new ruling and returned the case entirely to the SBU.

Apparently, given the circumstances of cooperation among former and current officials of the National Police, the State Bureau of Investigation, the Security Service, and the General Prosecutor’s Office with Olena Mazurova, it is necessary not only to investigate by NABU and SAP, but also to convene the Parliamentary Anti-Corruption Committee to summon officials for testimony and explanations.

Yuriy Butusov, Censor.NET