The information that the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (further referred to as NABU) allegedly stopped “proactively investigating Manafort” on political grounds, published by BBC on May 23rd 2018, is not true.
On May 22, 2018, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office filed an indictment against a former Ukrainian MP, ex-chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Fuel and Energy, and other suspects in criminal proceedings into the embezzlement of funds of SE “Eastern Mining and Processing Plant”, SE "National Nuclear Energy Generating Company “Energoatom”.
Responding to media inquiries and in order to prevent speculations regarding the investigation against the Deputy Prosecutor General, the Head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, we are noting the following information.
The funds in the amount of 185 million UAH were transferred to the National Agency of Ukraine for Finding, Tracing and Management of Assets Derived from Corruption and Other Crimes (АRМА). The abovementioned funds resulted from the sale of Odesa City Hall building of the Krayan Plant at inflated prices. On March 13, 2018, the judge of the Solomyansky District Court of Kyiv satisfied a request filed by the Detectives of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the prosecutors of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor`s Office (SAPO) for restoring seizure of funds. Also the court satisfied the request on transferring funds to the АRМА.
The employees of the Legal Department of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine visited the European Union's Judicial Cooperation Unit (Eurojust) in Hague (the Netherlands) on March 14-15, 2018. The visit was organized by the invitation of Eurojust and under project "European Union's Anti-Corruption Initiative in Ukraine".