NABU and SAP see their calling in making films, not in serious investigative work – head of parliamentary TSC compared anti-corruption officials to a PR agency
Kyiv • UNN
Head of the TSC Serhiy Vlasenko stated that NABU and SAP have turned into PR agencies that spend more time at press conferences than conducting investigations. He compared their methods to Stalinist courts of 1933.
The activities of NABU and SAP increasingly resemble the work of PR agencies without progress in solving cases. Their methods can be compared to Stalinist courts. This was stated by the head of the parliamentary Temporary Investigative Commission on investigating possible corruption in law enforcement and the judiciary, People's Deputy Serhiy Vlasenko.
Details
NABU and SAP have turned into PR agencies that spend more time at press conferences than conducting investigations. Instead of serious, consistent, professional investigative work, they are engaged in making films and editing audio recordings. They consider this their calling. At the same time, the salary of even an ordinary NABU detective is three times higher than that of a People's Deputy of Ukraine — from 140,000 hryvnias per month
In his opinion, everything happening with NABU and SAP is very reminiscent of the Stalinist courts of 1933. He stated that they apply two tactics to all cases.
First: they have learned to set up some kind of "wiretap" and listen to people. And then they tell everyone: "We don't need any more evidence. We have the tapes." Second: they take a provocateur (a "torpedo"), equip them with devices or put a phone in their hands, and send them to a person. He has several conversations with this person and draws them into some careless words. After that, they cut off all previous conversations, grab one phrase, and start feeding people "noodles" around it. Plus, immediately, on the very first day, they leak some sensitive fragments to the media
The People's Deputy also noted that the heads of NABU and SAP are constantly together: at press conferences, on business trips, etc.
The Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office was created to oversee the legality of investigations conducted by NABU detectives. And if you are overseeing someone, you cannot be with them all the time. And then we wonder why SAP does not provide effective procedural guidance over what NABU is doing. They keep saying that they investigate together. How can they investigate together?
In some places, he noted, there is a situation where representatives of three anti-corruption bodies — NABU, SAP, and HACC — participate in the same informal event.
Representatives of NABU, SAP, and HACC travel together for "training." Sometimes it happens that a judge hearing a case, the investigator handling the case, and the prosecutor supposedly overseeing the case sit together at the same table. In a normal society, this is called a violation of professional ethics and a conflict of interest
In his conviction, the actions of anti-corruption officials, supported by activists and journalists, are aimed at influencing political life and clearing the political landscape.
Corruption must be fought. But you cannot do the right thing by breaking the law. Because that always leads to even bigger problems later
Full version of the interview – via the link.