"Bakanov passed bribes at customs to Zelenskyy" – witness at Verkhovna Rada TIC
Former SBU head Ivan Bakanov received unlawful financial benefits and passed them on to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Businessman Serhii Vahanian said this at a meeting of the Temporary Investigative Commission (TIC) on investigating corruption during the war, Censor.NET reports.
Bakanov passed corruption money to Zelenskyy
"I have photo and video evidence of how Bakanov took money from me and other businessmen," Vahanian said, noting that it amounts to tens of millions of dollars.
When asked by the Temporary Investigation Commission whether he believed that Bakanov received corruption money and passed it to President Zelenskyy, he said: "Yes, I believe so."
The businessman claims he has audio, photo, and video recordings of Ivan Bakanov receiving unlawful financial benefits.
Bakanov became head of the SBU thanks to his friendship with Zelensky
Vahanian also said that Bakanov was part of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s inner circle and that they had been friends since school. That is why he was appointed head of the SBU.
In addition, the businessman said that Bakanov did not understand SBU management at all, and that all the work was done by the then head of the agency’s internal security, Andrii Naumov.
"Bakanov, in fact, acted as the face of the SBU and did everything Naumov told him," Vahanyan said.
He also claims that Zelensky knew about the criminal scheme organised by his friend Bakanov together with Naumov.
"He partly knew. He is the president, after all. But for him not to know at all what his closest friend is doing, when he looks after him like that. There isn’t even a notice of suspicion. I am sure he partly knew," the businessman said at the TIC meeting.
What preceded this?
- As a reminder, earlier businessman Serhii Vahanyan said in an interview with MP of the 8th convocation Boryslav Bereza that while Ivan Bakanov was serving as head of the SBU, the service was turned into a tool of systematic racketeering.
- Together with then SBU general Andrii Naumov, suspected of passing confidential information to Russia, Bakanov built within the SBU a system of informal payments from business and trading in NSDC sanctions.
