SBI closes case on alleged document forgery against NABU director

Decision to close the case

The State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) has decided to close the criminal case opened against the director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), Semen Kryvonos. The investigation focused on the possible forgery of official documents.

The closure of the case was announced by the acting Prosecutor General, Anton Kovalskyi. According to him, SBI investigators decided to close the criminal proceedings.

«Слідчими Державного бюро розслідувань було прийнято рішення про закриття вказаного кримінального провадження», — наголосив Ковальський. ("The investigators of the State Bureau of Investigation have decided to close the aforementioned criminal proceedings," Kovalskyi emphasised.)

Prosecutor’s review of the materials

After the decision to close the case was made, the SBI transferred all materials of the criminal proceedings to the Office of the Prosecutor General. The prosecutor responsible for the case reviewed the documents for 20 days. The review found no grounds to overturn the investigators’ decision.

«Рішення, про яке там багато хто говорив відносно керівника Національного антикорупційного бюро, станом на зараз закрите. Підстав для його скасування немає», — додав Ковальський. ("The decision, which many have been talking about regarding the head of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, is currently closed. There are no grounds for its cancellation," Kovalskyi added.)

Procedural violations in notifying suspicion

The acting Prosecutor General also revealed details of a procedural violation that occurred at the stage of notifying Semen Kryvonos of the suspicion. Anton Kovalskyi noted that former Prosecutor General Ruslan Khrachenko personally drafted, signed, and sent the notification of suspicion to the NABU head by post.

Under the Criminal Procedure Code, Khrachenko was obliged to instruct an SBI investigator to serve the suspicion on Kryvonos. However, as Kovalskyi explained, the suspicion was sent not from the Office of the Prosecutor General, but from a private individual.

«Більше того, підозра була скерована не від Офісу генерального прокурора, а від фізичної особи Кавченка Руслана Олексійовича. Як відомо, у ЄРДР була проставлена відмітка про вручення цієї підозри, що не відповідає дійсності, тому що її ніхто нікому не вручив», — розповів Ковальський. ("Moreover, the suspicion was sent not from the Office of the Prosecutor General, but from the private individual Ruslan Oleksiyovych Khrachenko. As is known, a mark indicating the service of this suspicion was entered in the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations, which is untrue, as no one served it on anyone," Kovalskyi said.)

Correction of error in the Unified Register

According to Anton Kovalskyi, Deputy Prosecutor General Maksym Krym later corrected this error by removing the incorrect mark regarding the service of suspicion on Semen Kryvonos from the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations (URPI).