Today, 28 September, the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) considered a defence motion to change the preventive measure for former Deputy Head of the Office of the President Iryna Mudra from detention to bail of UAH 13,094,000. The court did not change the amount of bail.
This was reported in the broadcast of the hearing, and Transparency International Ukraine, a civil society organisation, also wrote about it.
Update. The HACC judge refused to grant the defence motion to change Iryna Mudra’s preventive measure from detention to bail of UAH 13,094,000. She remains in custody until she pays the bail in full, i.e. UAH 20 million. The judge also issued a separate ruling, which will be sent to the National Bank of Ukraine.
According to the defence, problems have arisen with paying the bail: banks are blocking or suspending payments to the HACC account. The lawyers claim that no bank has cited a specific legal provision as grounds for refusal. The defence also noted that Mudra has been in custody for 35 days, there is no shelter in the remand prison, and her son has not seen his mother since she was notified of suspicion.
Mudra said she supports the defence’s position, is ready to comply with all obligations imposed by the court, and has no intention of absconding. She also noted that the assets available to her have been seized, so she cannot dispose of them.
The prosecutor asked the court to refuse the defence motion. According to him, the set amount of bail is sufficient to ensure that Mudra complies with the procedural obligations imposed on her, while the risks remain unchanged. The prosecutor pointed to financial monitoring measures that banks apply when processing the relevant payments.
The hearing moved into a closed format, after which the court will retire to the deliberation room to make a decision.
- On 25 August, the HACC remanded Mudra in custody for 60 days with the option of posting bail of UAH 20 million. The prosecution insisted on UAH 150 million. On 2 September, the court’s Appeals Chamber left this decision unchanged.
- Iryna Mudra is suspected of involvement in the activities of a criminal organisation, misappropriation of property, and money laundering in the “Forest Gump” and “Femida” cases.
- In particular, one of the episodes concerns UAH 150 million which, according to investigators, was spent to post bail for one of the defendants in the “Midas” case. NABU and the SAPO notified Mudra of suspicion on 19 August.