The National Anti-Corruption Bureau has served a notice of suspicion on former Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Andriy Smyrnov, ZN.UA reports, citing sources in anti-corruption agencies. The UP's sources also confirm this information.
According to the journalists, the case concerns the purchase of property at prices that may be undervalued. In autumn, the NABU conducted searches of Andriy's driver, mother and brother Ihor.
The suspicion was announced for illicit enrichment.
"The investigative actions concerned the case of the property acquired by Andriy Smyrnov's brother Ihor. The journalists found out that he had purchased an apartment in an elite new building in Lviv, a land plot in the Carpathians, a parking space in Kyiv, as well as a Volkswagen Multivan, a BMW and a motorcycle at huge discounts, but the brothers could not clearly answer why the prices were low and where the money came from," the article says.
But even before that, in March 2023, the SAPO opened criminal proceedings against Andriy Smyrnov following a complaint from the Anti-Corruption Human Rights Council, a civil society organisation, that he had committed corruption crimes. It was about the property registered in his brother's name, which, according to the organisation, was purchased personally by Andriy Smyrnov.
- In 2014, Andriy Smyrnov ran for parliament as a single-seat candidate in the Dnipropetrovsk Region, but failed. However, he became an assistant to one of the leaders of the local Right Sector, Andriy Denysenko, who was running for the European Solidarity party. At the same time, the following year Smirnov defended former Yanukovych-era Justice Minister Olena Lukash as a lawyer, according to Chesno.net.
- In 2015, he was elected to the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council from the UKROP party. In 2019, he was appointed deputy head of the Presidential Office of Andriy Bohdan, who was still in charge at the time. He was in charge of the judicial sector at the Prosecutor General's Office.
- In February 2023, the Ukrayinska Pravda investigated and found out that Andriy Smyrnov's brother had purchased luxury property at discounts during the full-scale war.
- Smyrnov was fired from the Presidential Office in March 2024.