Wiping out Budanov: How are top-level corruption and Tatarov sinking polling frontrunner? / Uncensored. PHOTOS
Head of the Presidential Office Kyrylo Budanov has publicly commented for the first time on his appearance in the recordings in the "Forrest Gump" case and, instead of providing answers, gave an interview that raised even more questions. Asked the simple question of "what top-level corruption is and what should be done about it," the head of the Presidential Office replied that he had no answer.
Journalist Maryna Danyliuk-Yarmolaieva examines how "institutional memory" is being used to justify keeping Oleh Tatarov in office, what is actually written in Tatarov and Tsutskiridze’s manual about protest participants, why being mentioned alongside Timur Mindich’s name shuts down political prospects, and which anonymous channels rushed to Budanov’s defense.
Watch on Censor.NET.
Earlier, the head of the President’s Office, Kyryllo Budanov, stated that it is up to the court to assess the recordings in which his name is mentioned in the Iryna Mudra case.
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.
- On 25 August, Iryna Mudra was remanded in custody with the option of posting UAH 20 million in bail.
