Statement on the NABU`s interference in the US presidential election is an effort to discredit an independent anti-corruption agency

The statement of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, who publicly said that the National Anti-Corruption Bureau could have influenced the US presidential election, is not true and is an absurd effort to discredit an independent anti-corruption agency.

Over the past four years, the National Bureau has repeatedly proven to be an apolitical law enforcement agency. After the establishment of the NABU, for the first time in the history of Ukraine, arrests of top-officials (previously considered as “untouchable”) have started. However, even in such circumstances, it is hard to believe that a newly established law enforcement agency in a country that went through the Revolution of Dignity could somehow influence the US presidential election process in 2016.

The NABUs jurisdiction is to expose and eradicate corruption offences committed by Ukrainian top-officials. Therefore, during the investigations, the NABU Detectives have never collected evidence as of illegal activities of Paul Manafort, as he was beyond the competence of the National Bureau.

The Prosecutor General is aware of this fact, since all the materials of so-called “black ledger” of the Party of Regions case (except for the episode concerning the actions of the former chairman of the Central Election Commission of Ukraine, the investigation of which was terminated by the prosecutors of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor`s Office) was sent to the Department of Special Investigations of the General Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine in June 2017 for further investigation.

We remind that the NABU published information mentioning the presence of Paul Manafort’s name among others on the pages of the so-called “black ledger” in response to numerous requests from Ukrainian and foreign media in order to avoid any speculations.

We emphasize that the US Government in general and the US Embassy in Ukraine in particular, have always supported Ukraine and the NABU as an agency since its establishment in 2015. International partners, who were standing side by side with the NABU even in the most difficult times, did a lot to combat corruption in Ukraine.

The NABU appreciates this high level of trust and is grateful to all international partners for their support.

For reference

The Party of Regions “black ledger” — more than 800 pages of records, passed by the former First Deputy Head of the Security Service of Ukraine Viktor Trepak to the NABU on May 27, 2016. The records allegedly contain data on multiple payments from the shadow cashbox of the Party of Regions to Ukrainian top-officials and civil activists.

In June 2017, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office sent all the materials of the criminal proceedings, except for the episode regarding the actions of the former chairman of the Central Election Commission of Ukraine, to the Department of Special Investigations of the General Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine (the GPO), which is currently continuing the investigation. The investigation of the episode that remained at the NABU terminated by the decision of the SAPO Prosecutors on the same month.

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