Large -scale searches among the Ukraine anti -corruption agency. SBU hunts for Russia's “grinders”

Ukrainian security services arrested several officials from the main anti-corruption agency on Monday and carried out dozens of searches, in an action that the targeted institution considers exaggerated and, according to it, practically blocked the entire activity.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has announced, according to Reuters, that he had detained an employee of the Ukraine National Anticorruption Bureau (Nabu), suspected of being a Russian spy, and another, accused of business connections with Russia. Other Nabu officials would have, according to SBU, connections with a forbidden party, led by a Ukrainian politician from the country.

But Nabu, an institution that has investigated high -ranking officials for corruption in the past, claims that the action of the authorities has far exceeded the sphere of national security and included unrelated charges, such as involvement in road accidents that have been several years ago.

The Transparency International organization has criticized the searches, saying that they reflect a “massive pressure” exercised by authorities over those fighting corruption in Ukraine.

According to Nabu, at least 70 searches were carried out by various law and security structures in Ukraine, aiming at 15 of its employees. The institution states that these actions were carried out without the approval of a court.

“In the vast majority of cases, the basis of these actions is the involvement of people in road accidents,” the Nabu statement said, who also mentions that some investigations are also concerned with Russia.

Although the risk of Russian infiltration “remains relevant”, this cannot justify “blocking the activity of the whole institution”, Nabu said in a statement.

The case of the chess

Anti-corruption militants expressed their concern after, earlier this month, Vitaliy Șabunin-one of the most famous activists in the fight against corruption-was charged for fraud and stiffening from the military service.

Shabunin and his supporters consider these accusations as a political revenge from the administration of President Volodimir Zelenski, as a result of the exposure of corrupt officials. On Monday, he publicly criticized the searches on Nabu employees.

President Zelenski's office denies that criminal prosecution in Ukraine would have political motivations.

SBU has announced that it had arrested an infiltrate agent of Russian secret services, which activated at NABU and would have transmitted information to its coordinator at least 60 times. Separately, the authorities detained a high -ranking detective within Nabu, suspected of having intermediated the sale of Russia of industrial hemp products by his father.

A third statement of the SBU states that some high -ranking officials of Nabu had links with deputy Fedir Khrystenko, who is believed to have fled Ukraine after the Russian invasion of 2022.

Separately, the Bureau of State Investigation (DBR) has announced that it has issued ordinances for charging for three employees of NABU, in files regarding road accidents resulting in victims. According to Nabu, the respective incidents took place two to four years ago.

Transparency International has harshly criticized the actions of the authorities, stating that carrying out searches without judicial mandates “demonstrates the extent of the pressure exerted by SBU and the General Prosecutor's Office on the anti -corruption institutions”.

The organization asked President Volodimir Zelenski to guarantee the independence of the anti -corruption structures in Ukraine.

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