It all started with the Chernyshov case – NABU came dangerously close to Zelenskyy’s inner circle

The government is trying to eliminate the independence of NABU and SAPO because the anti-corruption bodies have started getting too close to the President’s inner circle.

It all started with the Chernyshov case, NABU got very close to the President’s inner circle. This opinion was revealed by Illia Neshkhodovskyi, Head of the Analytical Department at the “ANTS” network for Espreso TV.

“If we talk about the reasons behind the draft law aiming to eliminate the independence of NABU and SAPO, everyone clearly understands the case of Oleksiy Chernyshov – that’s a fact.

The investigation got very close to President Zelenskyy’s inner circle, and it seems the President effectively gave his approval.

So now the situation appears as if the stability of state governance and national security has become less important than protecting the President’s entourage.

In Chernyshov’s case, we’re talking about significant corruption, although not the biggest financial flows.

In the case of Mindich, journalist Nikolov – who is conducting investigations – reports active involvement of companies close to the current authorities in drone procurement contracts.

I believe we’re talking about billions.

That’s why, in my view, this sector is now so heavily financed – because companies with close ties to the government have entered it,” Neshkhodovskyi explained.

The analyst is convinced that the government did not anticipate such large-scale protests against the draft law aimed at dismantling NABU and SAPO.

“We’re talking about investigations involving billions of hryvnias – if not dollars. In this situation, they didn’t even consider the potential consequences of this law.

They probably assumed society would grumble a bit, but they certainly didn’t expect this number of people and this scale of protest.

I also believe the authorities were warned about the likely international reaction, but they’ve become so used to Ukraine leveraging its position in matters of global security that they were confident they could smooth this over,” he added.

On July 22, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a draft law adopted at a session of the Verkhovna Rada, some provisions of which limit the powers of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) and place their activities under the authority of the Prosecutor General.

The status of the draft law changed three times in its official record: initially, the law was returned with the president’s signature; then the signature disappeared; and after some time, Volodymyr Zelensky’s signature reappeared in the draft law’s record.

This concerns draft law No. 12414 amending the Criminal Code.

Specifically, after signing the law, the president stated that NABU and SAPO will continue their work, and the Prosecutor General is committed to ensuring real accountability and punishment.

Following the vote in the Verkhovna Rada, thousands of Ukrainians in major cities took to the streets in peaceful protests, demanding that the president veto the law, which significantly limits the powers of the anti-corruption agencies.

EMPR