Mudra’s pretrial detention hearing will continue on August 25: prosecutor is insisting on 150 million bail
On the morning of 25 August, the High Anti-Corruption Court will continue proceedings to determine a preventive measure for Iryna Mudra, the former deputy head of the President’s Office, who is implicated in the ‘Forrest Gump’ case.
This was reported by a correspondent for Censor.NET.
What the court decided
Mudra asked for the hearing to be adjourned until tomorrow, 25 August. She said she had spent the whole weekend in hospital, and that her mother had allegedly undergone elective surgery and had only just come out of a coma. Mudra asked to be given the opportunity to speak to her mother and to focus on her statement tomorrow.
The prosecutor stated that he was ready to continue the proceedings. He noted that the defence had had more than enough time to prepare. According to him, Mudra’s defence lawyers were constantly repeating the same arguments, effectively dragging out the trial.
However, having heard the positions of both sides, the High Anti-Corruption Court judge adjourned the proceedings until tomorrow morning, 25 August. The hearing will resume at 8.00 am. The defence will have no more than 90 minutes for their closing statements.
"150 million hryvnias is an exorbitant sum; it is impossible to pay," said Mudra’s lawyer regarding the bail amount insisted upon by the prosecutor.
Prior to this, another defence lawyer for the former official stated that the allegations against her were unfounded, and therefore no preventive measure should be imposed at all.
Earlier, a prosecutor from the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) stated that Mudra may have assets worth over 250 million hryvnias, which is why the prosecution is requesting that bail be set at 150 million hryvnias as an alternative to detention.
He cited data on Mudra’s declared assets and information obtained during covert investigative operations.
- According to him, she owns a flat measuring over 57 square metres, the value of which may exceed 8 million hryvnias, a parking space and a property under construction. There was also mention of undeclared valuable jewellery.
Operation ‘Forrest Gump’
- It was previously reported that 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 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, the chairman of the supervisory board of ‘Sense 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 ‘Forrest 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 ‘Forrest 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 ‘Forrest Gump’ and ‘Themis’ operations.
- On 21 August, the High Anti-Corruption Court imposed a preventive measure on former MP Maksym Mykytas in the form of detention, subject to the payment of a 30 million hryvnia bail.
