People’s Deputy of Ukraine Igor Mosiychuk: “The trust of Ukrainians has already been completely undermined”

Polish journalists published an interview with a Ukrainian MP, in which he spoke about the incredible corruption in Ukraine's anti-corruption structures.

Polish journalists published an interview with a Ukrainian MP, in which he spoke about the incredible corruption in Ukraine’s anti-corruption structures. We want to share it and are publishing it in accordance with the original.

The bloody war in Ukraine has been going on for the third year. The death toll is in the hundreds of thousands, millions of Ukrainians, fleeing Putin’s army, have become refugees. Most of whom have found refuge in the countries of the European Union. Against the backdrop of terrible military news, news concerning the chronic disease of the young Ukrainian state – corruption in law enforcement agencies – has faded into the background. The most high-profile corruption case of recent months in Ukraine has been a series of scandals related to the names of top managers of Ukrainian anti-corruption agencies. Deputy Director of NABU Gizo Uglava, who was caught leaking investigative information to a high-ranking suspect, was dismissed from his post. Prior to this, the head of the Ukrainian Anti-Corruption Agency, Mr. Sitnik, also lost his post due to corruption charges.

A series of scandals and revelations have dealt a huge reputational blow to the image of Ukrainian anti-corruption agencies. According to the results of a sociological survey conducted by the largest research agency “Razumkov Center”, only 3.8% of Ukrainians fully trust the anti-corruption agencies of their country.

However, even against this background, information about the facts of extortion by top managers of NABU became a big sensation in Ukraine. Verkhovna Rada deputy Igor Mosiychuk published the testimony of Odessa mayor Gennady Trukhanov, who under oath told the investigator that he had encountered the fact of extortion by the deputy head of NABU Gizo Uglava even before he was among the suspects in the corruption case. At the same time, Trukhanov himself, during the trial, where he is listed as a suspect, repeatedly stated that he has evidence that the case against him, members of his team and Odessa businessmen was fabricated on the direct orders of former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, whose subordinate Gizo Uglava was before his work in the anti-corruption agencies of Ukraine.

According to the interrogation protocol of the mayor of Odessa Trukhanov, which was conducted by the prosecutor of the second department of the SAP Stanislav Bronevitsky, in 2017, the first deputy director of NABU Uglava held a meeting with Gennady Trukhanov in the office. During the conversation, Uglava hinted that Trukhanov would have problems that should be resolved in advance. In particular, the first deputy director of NABU noted that in order to avoid problems, the mayor of Odessa should talk to Mikheil Saakashvili and his people. Further in his testimony, the mayor of Odessa states that he was invited to a meeting with Uglava’s representatives in Poland, where the amount of 500,000 dollars was announced for resolving the issue with the anti-corruption agencies. Below we provide a direct quote from Trukhanov’s testimony: “Zurab Adeishvili indicated that the three of them knew that there were problems and that they could help solve them through Uglava. At the same time, during the conversation, Zurab indicated that the problem was serious. Then I concluded that these people came to me from Uglava and were talking to me on his behalf. To Zurab’s question, I answered that I would work within the legal framework and did not know about any problems. At this point, the meeting ended, after which we began to leave the restaurant. As we walked, Alexander Granovsky approached me and said that I needed to give 500 thousand dollars. These funds would be used to solve problems with NABU, that is, so that there would be no movement on the case and I would not be notified of suspicion. I replied that there was nothing to talk about.”

Igor Mosiychuk, who published Trukhanov’s sensational testimony, concludes in his blog on social media: “As a result, after Gennady Trukhanov refused to give a bribe of 500 000 US dollars, after some time he was declared a suspect in the case of the Krayan plant. Moreover, the suspicion was declared personally by Gizo Uglava in the NABU premises where Trukhanov had been summoned beforehand.”

Today we have the opportunity to ask Mr. Mosiychuk questions regarding the high-profile exposure of corruption in Ukrainian law enforcement agencies.

The documents you published concern the so-called “Odessa case” in Ukraine. What is so special about this case and why is so much attention being drawn to it?

The “Odessa case” is the quintessence of the entire period of the first call of anti-corruption fighters. First of all, this entire period is associated with the names of Sitnyk and Uglava. Ukraine was waiting for the emergence of NABU and SAP. Ukraine suffered from corruption from the first day of its independence and great hopes were placed on the newly created structures. It is no secret that total corruption has been and remains the main obstacle to Ukraine’s accession to the EU. It is widely known that the US and Europe invested their own taxpayers’ money in the creation of new Ukrainian special services. NABU needed to justify the investment and demonstrate the result. And what we call the “Odessa case” was conceived and presented by NABU as a titular, show trial. The anti-corruption agencies conducted a broad campaign in the media, attracted VIP speakers and public organizations to work. That is, passions raged in the PR area: leaks, insiders, rumors, commercial placements in the media. As is now obvious, all the energy and Western budgets were spent on this. However, time passed and everyone began to understand that behind the media activity there was a sham. Gradually, lawyers and experts began to have more and more questions for the investigation. Suspicious political background that preceded the criminal case, lack of evidence, witness testimony. And when the details of the case appeared in the press, it became obvious to everyone that the Odessa case of NABU was, at the very least, strange. The “Odessa case” was conceived as a bright victory for NABU, and years later it became a disgrace and disappointment. That is why it occupies a special place in the history of Ukrainian justice.

In your blog you published the testimony of the mayor of Odessa Gennady Trukhanov, who has an ambiguous reputation in Ukraine and abroad. Can we trust the words of the mayor of Odessa and the accusations he has made against the leadership of the anti-corruption agencies?

In this case, it does not matter at all whether Trukhanov is a good person or not. Whether you are his supporter or opponent. Another thing is important – the persecution of Trukhanov, members of his team and Odessa businessmen was a political and economic project of specific individuals. That is, from the very beginning, the “Odessa case” was a combination of political revenge, personal hostility and, as we now know, extortion. The materials of the criminal case contain direct testimony indicating that Trukhanov and Galanternik (an Odessa businessman accused in the “Odessa case”) {editor’s note} were personally ordered by the former governor of the Odessa region Mikheil Saakashvili to be killed by his former subordinates. If you are not aware, I can tell you why Saakashvili and his team members, who later joined the NABU leadership, were so angry with the Odessans. The fact is that, having become a Ukrainian official, Saakashvili immediately went into politics. Everyone knows that he expected to at least take the post of prime minister and even aimed for the presidency of Ukraine, since he received Ukrainian citizenship on the initiative of Petro Poroshenko. On the way to his global goal, Saakashvili encountered a small obstacle – municipal elections in Odessa, where Saakashvili worked as governor at the time. As a result, what looked like a small victorious war, in fact, turned out to be a terrible defeat for the Georgian group. Saakashvili’s protégés, for whom he personally campaigned, were routed in the elections by the local Odessa party led by Trukhanov. This defeat de facto put an end to Saakashvili’s only beginning political career in Ukraine. He could forget about his presidential ambitions in Ukraine. The Georgian group placed responsibility for their political humiliation on Mayor Trukhanov and Odessa businessman Galanternik, whom Saakashvili (not without reason, it must be said) considered not only Trukhanov’s friend, but also the sponsor of his political party. What happened next is widely known: a high-status member of the ex-president of Georgia’s team, Uglava, becomes a top manager of NABU, a delicate offer to “resolve” the issue, a refusal from Trukhanov, and the “Odessa case” begins. As I have already said, I am not a lawyer for Trukhanov, Galanternik, or other defendants. This is not about them at all. The point is that, in fact, from the first day of the existence of the special service, on which Ukrainians had placed so much hope, it itself became mired in corruption.

What, in your opinion, could be the consequences for the Ukrainian law enforcement system after you published your testimony exposing the NABU leadership?

The saddest thing is that Ukrainians’ trust in the very idea of ​​the possibility of eradicating corruption in our country has already been undermined. For years, Ukrainian anti-corruption activists have been destroying this faith with their own hands. The corruption scandal of Sitnik, the shameful expulsion of Uglava, who was caught in corruption, the details of the “Odessa case”, the endless PR campaign in the media instead of real work. And all this continued under the previous leadership of the special service from year to year.

I’m not even talking about the broken lives of those who were accused by Sitnik and Uglava during the reporting period. And what if, as in the case of the “Odessa case”, and in other investigations we were dealing with personal revenge and extortion? Do you understand what scale of corruption we are talking about? Forgeries, bribes, blackmail, provocations, extortion – this is an incomplete set of tools of the former NABU leadership. For me personally, it is obvious that if Ukraine does not start reviewing all the cases in which corrupt “anti-corruption fighters” had a hand, we will not have another chance to join the legal family of European nations. A truly independent commission must be convened in Ukraine, which will not be afraid to dig up all the facts. It is obvious to me that extortion of money from Trukhanov is far from an isolated case in the practice of those who were called to fight corruption in Ukraine. Keeping silent about the situation will not solve the problem, but will only drive the disease deeper. Our country is going through the most terrible and tragic period in its history. Today, Ukrainians who have taken up arms are defending not only their homes, their freedom, their statehood. They are defending the future of civilization, the future of Europe, a part of which Ukraine dreams of becoming not only geographically, but mentally. Western countries provide our people with enormous support. But there are problems inside Ukraine that we can only solve ourselves. And the virus of corruption that has infected Ukraine from within is no less a dangerous enemy for our future than the Russian occupation forces.