Shabunin: I am convinced that Mudra received instructions from president regarding case of Halushchenko’s bail

Vitalii Shabunin, head of the Anti-Corruption Action Centre, believes that Iryna Mudra, deputy head of the President’s Office, acted on the direct instructions of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the case concerning the arrangement of a 150 million hryvnia bail for former Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko.

He made these remarks during a broadcast on ‘Espreso’, according to Censor.NET.

"Mudra has zero authority"

"As far as Halushchenko is concerned, Mudra is a nobody. I am convinced this was an instruction from the President for her to do this," said Shabunin.

He also stated that references to this story are allegedly contained in the materials of covert investigative operations. In Shabunin’s view, this indicates that the President was at the very least aware of the situation, and may even have given instructions regarding Halushchenko’s dismissal.

Speaking about the possible legalisation of 150 million hryvnias to secure Halushchenko’s release, Shabunin described the situation as indicative of a sense of impunity. He pointed out that, in his view, those involved may have initially committed one offence and then resorted to another to secure the release of a suspect in a separate corruption case.

"It is easy to feel immune from punishment when part of an organised criminal group is the deputy head of the President’s Office," he stated.

The head of the Anti-Corruption Centre emphasised that, in his view, Mudra could not have made a decision of this magnitude on her own: "Mudra herself has zero authority."

The President’s constitutional immunity

At the same time, he stressed that the legal powers of NABU and the SAPO regarding the President are limited by his constitutional immunity. According to Shabunin, even if there is evidence of unlawful instructions from the head of state, it is legally impossible to hold him to account whilst he remains in office.

Operation ‘Forrest Gump’

It was previously reported that the NABU and the SAPO are conducting a special operation to expose a criminal group involving MPs and senior officials from the Office of the President.
According to media reports, as part of the announced special operation, NABU and the SAP are carrying out searches at the home of Iryna Mudra, deputy head of the Office of the President.
In addition, NABU detectives carried out searches at the home of Hladyshenko, chairman of the supervisory board of "Sens Bank".
Vadym Stolar, a Member of Parliament from the ‘Opposition Platform – For Life’ party, which has been banned by the court, confirmed that NABU and the SAPO are conducting searches at his premises as part of the ‘Forest Gump’ special operation.
NABU later stated thatthe case involved 150 million hryvnias in cash which, according to the investigation, had been channelled into the legal system via a series of accounts held by front companies to pay bail for one of the defendants in the ‘Midas’ case.
Subsequently, the former deputy head of the Presidential Office, Iryna Mudra, confirmed that her premises were searched on 19 August; she was informed of the charges against her and served with a request for a preventive measure, but was not detained. She is preparing for the court hearing.
On 20 August, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) released new recordings of conversations involving those implicated in the ‘Forest Gump’ case — the second part of the investigation entitled ‘Themis’. This concerns a scheme involving the hostile takeover of property and other assets through unauthorised interference with the Ministry of Justice’s information (automated) networks.
On 20 August, a prosecutor from the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) named all the individuals implicated in NABU’s ‘Forest Gump’ and ‘Themis’ operations.