Chernyshov’s suspicion demonstrates that NABU and SAPO are independent institutions - Kryvonos
The suspicion of Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Chernyshov is an indicator that NABU and SAPO are independent institutions.
This was stated by the Director of the Bureau Semen Kryvonos in an interview with Ukrinform, Censor.NET reports.
According to him, the main thing in Chernyshov's case is the result achieved.
"All the defendants in the criminal proceedings have been served with suspicions, and most importantly, the current Vice Prime Minister, the highest official in the executive branch who has ever received a suspicion from NABU and law enforcement agencies in general, except for the former Prime Minister in the 1990s (Pavlo Lazarenko - ed.), has been served with a suspicion. And if we talk about the modern history of Ukraine, after the Maidan, the Deputy Prime Minister is the highest official in the executive branch, who, while still retaining the appropriate influence, was suspected by NABU. I believe that the suspicion of the Deputy Prime Minister demonstrates that NABU and SAPO are absolutely independent institutions," explained Kryvonos.
The NABU director noted that the Deputy Prime Minister did not escape responsibility.
"It means that no one succeeded, even if they tried. And I emphasize once again that the NABU and the SAPO are absolutely independent bodies. When we see the result of a case, what kind of agreements can we talk about? It's all rumors and conspiracy theories," he concluded.
Corruption case in the Ministry of Reconstruction under Chernyshev
Last week, the NABU notified five people of suspicion in a case of corruption in the construction sector involving top government officials.
In particular, Vasyl Volodin, a member of the Board of Naftogaz of Ukraine, Maksym Horbatiuk, Chief Commercial Officer of Ukrgazvydobuvannya, Alla Sushon, former Director of Ukrkomunobuslivaniye, and Serhii Kopystyra, a developer, were suspected of abuse of office, receiving and giving an undue benefit on a particularly large scale.
On June 13, the HACC arrested Horbatiuk with the possibility of posting UAH 25 million bail, on June 17, the court arrested Volodin with an alternative bail of UAH 20 million, and on June 20, the developer Kopystyra was granted a preventive measure in the form of arrest with an alternative bail of UAH 100 million.
At the time of the crime, Volodin was the Secretary of State of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and Horbatiuk was an adviser to the head of the ministry, Oleksii Chernyshov, who later became the head of Naftogaz, where his associates also went to work. Chernyshov is now the head of the Ministry of National Unity.
According to the investigation, the developer developed a scheme to illegally obtain a land plot in Kyiv for the construction of a residential complex. To do this, he turned to top officials of the Ministry of Regional Development, who created conditions for the transfer of land to a state-controlled enterprise. The latter illegally entered into investment agreements with the "right" construction company. At the same time, the land and buildings on it were valued almost five times cheaper, and the difference between this valuation and the market value exceeded UAH 1 billion.
According to the UP, NABU detectives planned to conduct a search of Chernyshov's place a year ago, but it was canceled at the request of the Bureau's director, Semen Kryvonos. At the same time, Chernyshov secretly met with Kryvonos, later explaining that the meeting was to discuss the anti-corruption program of Naftogaz. Kryvonos himself denied any involvement in the cancellation of searches at Chernyshov's place of residence.
On June 27, the HACC imposed a measure of restraint on Oleksii Chernyshov in the form of bail in the amount of UAH 120,002,668 with a number of procedural obligations.
On July 2, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Unity Oleksii Chernyshov was released on UAH 120 million bail.
On July 2, 2025, the HACC did not remove Chernyshov from the post of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Unity.
