"NABU pressures people in Yanukovych's best traditions," - ex-MP Martynenko

Former People's Front MP Mykola Martynenko claims the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine uses illegal methods during searches conducted under criminal cases where he appears as a witness.

He said it in a comment to Censor.NET.

Ex-deputy Mykola Martynenko has been a subject of investigations of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine since December last year. The NABU periodically reports on certain procedural steps in the case and promises to take the materials to court shortly. Martynenko's lawyers deny all accusations, calling them far-fetched and based on media publications. Moreover, according to the lawyers, the NABU has started applying intimidation and even physical force against them.

According to Martynenko, NABU detectives simply force people to testify against him.

"The NABU has reported about 49 searches and 120 interrogations under the non-existent Martynenko case. At that, people are being pressured in Yanukovych's best traditions. Even those who are not familiar with me. The bureau does its best to make them testify against me. The NABU has assumed this tactics as it realizes that online publications give nothing," the politician remarks.

Martynenko says that seven months into the probe, he appears only as a witness with no suspicion notice served. The former MP claims it is all due to the absence of any evidence against him.

As reported, in December 2015, Petro Poroshenko Bloc MP Serhii Leshchenko said he possessed documents allegedly confirming the existence of a criminal case against Mykola Martynenko in Switzerland. According to Leshchenko, Martynenko allegedly received bribes from Czech automobile manufacturer Skoda on accounts of his Panama-based firm. He also said the Czech Republic had opened criminal proceedings against Martynenko. The PGO later confirmed receiving an official request from the Czech prosecutor's office regarding Martynenko's case.

On November 30, Martynenko announced his resignation as people's deputy in the wake of corruption scandal and information campaign that, in his words, had been launched against him. On Dec. 22, 2015, the Verkhovna Rada supported Martynenko's resignation at the third attempt.

Mykola Martynenko ascertains his innocence, so he voluntarily renounced parliamentary immunity and provided all available information to law enforcement agencies as a witness. He also says that the accusations by people's deputy Leshchenko are fake.

In May this year, NABU's director Artem Sytnyk said the Bureau had received materials from the PGO on one of the cases where Martynenko appears as a subject. Later, Sytnyk said that the case against ex-MP Mykola Martynenko accounts for several hundreds of volumes of materials.