Investigators of the State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) on Wednesday, December 29, conducted a series of searches as part of an investigation into a criminal scheme for the supply of coal from the temporarily occupied territories and assistance to the LPR and DPR terrorist organizations by a group of Ukrainian citizens.
“In order to avoid manipulation and subsequent informational speculations around this criminal proceeding, we inform you that on December 29, 2021, the investigators of the State Bureau of Investigations, on the basis of the relevant determinations of the investigating judge, conducted a number of searches at the places of possible storage of things or documents that are important for criminal proceedings,” the SBI told Interfax-Ukraine.
The bureau said that within the proceedings under Part 1 and Part 3 of Article 258-5 (financing of terrorism), Part 1 of Article 111 (high treason) and Part 1 of Article 258-3 (creation of a terrorist organization) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
Earlier, Head of the central headquarters of the European Solidarity party Oleksandr Turchynov said at a briefing that law enforcement officers at 07.00 on Wednesday searched the premises of first assistant to the fifth president of Ukraine, Yuriy Onyschenko, and former deputy Serhiy Berezenko, but found nothing.
Fifth President of Ukraine and current member of the Ukrainian parliament Petro Poroshenko does not want to cooperate with the State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) on the investigations into thirteen criminal proceedings in which he is a witness, SBI Director Roman Truba said. “Petro Poroshenko should understand that it is in his interests to testify so that the investigators can study the circumstances as soon as possible […] Unfortunately, the ex-president does not agree on that. We are offering cooperation, but he offers opposition. We are proposing to him an investigation into all circumstances of the case, he is engaging in politics near the SBI office,” Truba told a briefing in Kyiv on Wednesday.
A testimony is needed first and foremost for Poroshenko himself, Truba said.
The SBI is investigating 13 criminal proceedings in which Poroshenko is a witness and he is being questioned in that status, Truba said.
