Zelenskyy must tell us all whether he was aware of corruption within his inner circle, - Fedorov
Former Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov has stated that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy must explain whether he was aware of possible corruption amongst his inner circle, emphasising that this is the President’s responsibility.
Fyodorov said this in an interview with the BBC, according to Censor.NET.
Zelenskyy’s responsibility
As reported, Fedorov commented on the anti-corruption investigation into an alleged money-laundering scheme in which a senior official from the President’s Office may have been involved.
He stated that this investigation raises questions about Zelenskyy’s awareness of possible corruption within his inner circle.
"Let him answer that question. I believe he is prepared for such questions. It is his responsibility to tell us all whether he knew about all this or not," said Fedorov.
At the same time, he stressed that he did not wish to "make any assumptions".
Operation ‘Forest Gump’
- It was previously reported that the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (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 SAPO 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 that the 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.
