Attempted bribery for a post in NABU: sentenced ex-prosecutor detained
Former Prosecutor of the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine Oleksandr Matiushko, sentenced by the High Anti-corruption Court to two years in prison for a proposal of USD 10 thousand for a post in NABU, has been detained today by Detectives. He has been taken to a pre-trial detention center pending his transfer to a penal colony. As previously reported, the ex-prosecutor was declared wanted as he evaded serving his sentence after the HAAC verdict came into force in early February 2021.
The ex-official was found guilty of committing a crime under Part 1 Art. 369 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. NABU and SAPO detained Oleksandr Matiushko on February 17, 2016, after he offered the members of the NABU selection board USD 10 thousand to get appointed as head or deputy head of a detective department.
After two months, in April 2016, the case was referred to court. However, for more than three years, the Holosiivskyi District Court of Kyiv failed to pass a sentence.
It is only after the HAAC was launched, that the case was resent according to jurisdiction and started to be heard from the beginning. In record time, just 10 months after receiving the case, in September 2020, the judges handed down a verdict — Oleksandr Matiushko was found guilty and sentenced to two years in prison. In January 2021, the HAAC decision was upheld by the Appeals Chamber, and in July — by the Supreme Court of Cassation. This is the first HAAC imprisonment verdict, which has passed all instances and remained in force just 18 months after the case got to the court.
Moreover, today, July 12, 2021, the HAAC has passed a guilty verdict against another PGO official, who got sentenced to two years in prison. The NABU Detectives caught the official red-handed as he was attempting to give USD 5 thousand to a middleman to further pass the funds to one of the heads of the State Audit Office.
Video: https://bit.ly/3n3S7Zm
