The High Anti-Corruption Court has resumed the hearing on choosing a preventive measure for Iryna Mudra, the former deputy head of the Office of the President. The prosecution is seeking bail of 150 million hryvnias for her.
At the hearing on 25 August, the defence is speaking. The lawyer believes that another suspect, Maksym Mykytas, flattered Mudra and that, from his conversations with other people, it is clear he was using her.
The lawyer also believes that the bail amount sought by the prosecution is not justified. He added that a doctor advised Mudra to be hospitalised, but she refused because of the court proceedings.
“We ask the court to refuse to apply such a preventive measure on the grounds that the prosecutor has failed to prove both the risks and the amount of bail,” the lawyer said.
After that, Iryna Mudra took the floor. She spoke about her biography, saying she had worked in banks for 20 years. At the start of the full-scale war, she took her young child abroad, but agreed to work at the Ministry of Justice and returned in order, as Mudra claims, to fight the Russians in the legal arena.
This is already the third attempt to choose a preventive measure for the former official of the Office of the President. Consideration began last Friday and continued yesterday. The hearing on 24 August was interrupted due to an air-raid alert.
Suspicion Against Iryna Mudra
Iryna Mudra, former MP Maksym Mykytas, and current MP Vadym Stolar, along with ten other people, are suspected of participating in a criminal group engaged in corporate raiding and of arranging the payment of 150 million hryvnias obtained illegally as bail for a suspect in the “Midas” case, former minister Herman Halushchenko.
NABU and SAP reported on 19 August that they had uncovered a criminal organisation led by a former and a current MP and involving Iryna Mudra, deputy head of the Office of the President. According to the investigation, they arranged the payment of bail of 150 million hryvnias for Herman Halushchenko, suspected of participating in a criminal organisation whose leader investigators believe to be Tymur Mindich, as well as of money laundering. Halushchenko had been held in custody with an alternative of bail set at 200 million hryvnias since 17 February. Later, his bail was reduced to 150 million hryvnias. It is these funds that, according to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, the Mykytas–Stolar criminal organisation accumulated and channelled through the state-owned Sense Bank without financial monitoring in June this year, after which Halushchenko was released from custody.
The same Mykytas–Stolar organisation, with the participation of Iryna Mudra, according to NABU’s version, was involved in the raider takeover of companies and the illegal re-registration of their real estate. This case was called “Themis”. The investigation found that members of the organisation used hackers’ services for illegal interference in registers and re-registrations, bribed judges, and put pressure on the Ministry of Justice.
Maksym Mykytas was given a preventive measure in the form of detention in custody with the possibility of bail of 30 million hryvnias. For Iryna Mudra, the prosecution is seeking bail of 150 million hryvnias. This is the same amount as for Herman Halushchenko, whom she is suspected of helping with bail.
Yelizarov was remanded in custody with bail set at 20 million hryvnias. Dubovyk was remanded in custody with bail set at 7 million hryvnias.