High Anti-Corruption Court imposes preventive measure on Mudra (updated). VIDEO
The High Anti-Corruption Court is continuing to determine the preventive measure to be imposed on Iryna Mudra, the former deputy head of the President’s Office.
This was reported by Censor.NET.
Details
During the hearing, Mudra spoke about her role in the work on the international tribunal concerning Russia’s crime of aggression against Ukraine.
"For three years in a row, my job has been to convince the world that Ukraine can be trusted when it comes to integrity. In this line of work, no one takes anyone at their word. The OECD Working Group on Bribery does not accept declarations or presentations—it monitors, verifies what the state has done, what changes have been made to the law, and what has been implemented in practice, and then publishes its conclusion," she noted.
According to Mudra, she was an active participant in this work.
The former deputy head of the Presidential Office emphasized that she traveled abroad for negotiations and returned to Ukraine.
"The last time I crossed the border was on August 14 of this year. According to NABU, I was already aware of the investigation at that time. I returned. If I had intended to leave the country or hide from the investigation, I would not have done so," she said.
About Mykytas
"Of the 237 conversations included in this case, 232 were recorded using one person’s microphone. Not mine. This person was close to me; I trusted her, and every time she spoke with me, she recorded me. Now look at what I’m being accused of. It’s not a document I signed, not a decision I made, not money I took, not a meeting I held.
I’m being charged because that person recorded me. That person was speaking; I was standing nearby and listening. He spoke, I listened, and he recorded it," she said.
Mudra pointed out that Mykytas has several cases pending with the NABU and has spent these past years at liberty.
"Three days ago, the prosecutor requested 200 million hryvnias in bail for this person; the court set it at 30 million. For me, on my first-ever charge, it’s 150 million hryvnias. I’m not asking the court to be harsher on anyone. I’m asking that the same standards and proportionality be applied to me," she added.
Mudra also commented on the information regarding the $4 million from Mykytas.
"I have never received $4 million from Mykytas—neither in cash, nor via bank transfer, nor in any other form. The case files contain no evidence of cash, no bank transfer to my account, no receipt, and no testimony regarding the transfer of these funds. There are only the words of another person—perhaps his own intention, perhaps his own desire. Perhaps the investigation will ask him what he meant by these $4 million from ‘Ukrbud,’ as he said," she noted.
Mudra denied that she had given instructions to forge documents, tamper with state registries, or illegally take control of companies.
Personal life
"Understanding the law and understanding people are two different skills. I managed the first, but unfortunately not the second. My private conversations became part of the investigation’s evidence and were used to create the impression of my alleged personal criminal role. These conversations took place in a private, emotional context, sometimes in a joking manner; they were ordinary private conversations," Mudra explained.
According to her, personal trust and careless words in a private conversation do not in themselves prove involvement in a criminal organization.
She also confirmed that her mother lives in Israel and her daughter in the United States.
"My son is 8 years old; he is in Kyiv, attends school, and has spent his entire conscious childhood in a country at war—and has not left. Given the security situation with shelling, he and I may be in the Kyiv region. Therefore, I ask the court not to restrict my movement to Kyiv alone, but to also take the Kyiv region into account," she told the investigating judge.
Mudra stated her willingness to appear whenever summoned, to report any change of residence, to surrender all documents granting the right to travel abroad, to refrain from communicating with persons designated by the court, to wear an electronic monitoring device, and to post a reasonable bail.
What was the court’s decision?
Investigating Judge Ihor Strohyi announced that Mudra had been ordered to be held in custody for 60 days, with the option to post bail in the amount of 20 million hryvnias.
Operation ‘Forrest Gump’
- It was previously reported that NABU and the SAP 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 hryvnias bail.
