The director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau denied that there is any conflict with the SBU, the Office of the Prosecutor General, the President’s Office, or any other institution. Semen Kryvonos said this in response to a question from a The Independent journalist at a briefing.
At the same time, there are illegal actions being taken against NABU employees. In particular, the wiretapping of the head of the third main department.
“Is this a conflict? It’s not a conflict, but absurd actions on the part of the Security Service. It’s a completely different category. And there is no conflict—we have excellent relations,” he said, adding that such actions are not isolated incidents.
In particular, a few weeks ago they discovered surveillance of one of the employees.
Kryvonos added that investigating possible unlawful actions by NABU employees is not a problem, provided law enforcement acts within current legislation. He added that surveillance and wiretapping are aimed not at real spies and traitors, but at finding out what investigative steps the Bureau’s detectives are planning.
“Court decision registers are constantly being monitored. All sorts of registers, ‘Safe City’—where our vehicles go. And the movements of our detectives. We are, of course, taking measures to avoid disclosure of information from pre-trial investigations and operational-search activities. But alongside that, a huge amount of resources is being thrown precisely into finding out what exactly we are doing there and what we are planning. We receive this information constantly. Is this a conflict?” Kryvonos said.
He urged all colleagues to act within the bounds of the law.