Representatives of the East Europe Foundation who ignored the parliamentary Temporary Investigative Commission will be forcibly brought to its meeting. Mykhailo Fedorov, who received a deferment from mobilization at the same foundation the day after being hired, also failed to appear at the commission’s meeting, UNN reports.
According to Oleksii Honcharenko, head of the Verkhovna Rada Temporary Investigative Commission on investigating possible violations of Ukrainian legislation in the areas of defense and anti-corruption law, it was decided to apply the procedure of compulsory appearance to representatives of the East Europe Foundation.
"Instead of coming and giving testimony to the parliamentary commission, the Foundation decided to fob it off with a written response. I would separately like to address the Foundation’s lawyers. It is not for you to determine for Parliament which information should be ‘confidential’ and which should not. You should think instead about the consequences of failing to appear at a meeting of the parliamentary commission," Honcharenko wrote.
At his initiative, the commission members supported an appeal to the National Police to use the compulsory-appearance procedure for an authorized representative of the East Europe Foundation (the foundation’s president, director of operations, or another authorized representative of the organization) at the next meeting, which will be held on September 14.
The commission also summoned former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov again for September 14. The commission members noted that if he is abroad, they are prepared to hear from him online.
The head of the commission reminded everyone that ignoring summonses from the Temporary Investigative Commission is punishable by law.
Honcharenko also reported today that Mykhailo Fedorov has been working as an adviser to the president on strategic issues at the East Europe Foundation since July 17, and that he received a deferment from mobilization the very next day. The East Europe Foundation provided this information in response to a request from the Verkhovna Rada Temporary Investigative Commission.
Earlier, Mykhailo Fedorov announced the launch of a defense-technology company, whose first lead investor would be Alex Karp, CEO of the American technology company Palantir. In response to this news, Tetiana Nikolaienko, deputy head of the Public Anti-Corruption Council under the Ministry of Defense, and MP Oleksii Honcharenko stated that there was a conflict of interest in the former defense minister’s actions, which constitutes a violation of anti-corruption legislation.
Also, after Fedorov was appointed an adviser to the Italian defense minister, journalists stated that his actions posed a threat of state secrets being disclosed.