Shabunin case: NABU launches investigation against former NACP executives for possible assistance in activist’s military service evasion
14 August 2024 12:54
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) has opened criminal proceedings against the former head of the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAPC) , Oleksandr Novikov, and his former deputy, Artem Sytnyk. They are suspected of abuse of office, which could have helped activist Vitaliy Shabunin evade military service. This was reported on Facebook by journalist Volodymyr Boyko, who published the official response of the NABU to his request in support of his words, reports "Komersant Ukrainian"
According to the journalist, NABU registered the case in the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations (URPI) after an investigating judge of the High Anti-Corruption Court ordered the bureau to open an investigation on Boyko’s report on 5 August 2024.
The accusations are that Novikov and Sytnyk allegedly repeatedly sent letters to military unit A7376 asking them to send soldier Shabunin to the NACP. According to Boyko, on the basis of these letters, Shabunin did not appear at his military unit from September 2022 to March 2023, living at home and doing business. At the same time, the military unit continued to pay him a soldier’s salary and an additional remuneration of 30 thousand hryvnias per month for performing tasks in wartime.
Boyko claims that Shabunin, being a mobilised serviceman, could not legally hold a position in the NAPC, as there are no positions in the agency for servicemen with the rank of “soldier”. Instead of performing military duties, according to Boyko, Shabunin was engaged in business and worked for the NGO Anti-Corruption Action Centre.
In support of his words, Boyko cites Shabunin’s declarations for 2022 and 2023, where he declared income from business activities in the amount of over UAH 1.5 million in 2022 and almost UAH 2.26 million in 2023.
Additionally, it is reported that the fact of Shabunin’s unlawful business trip to the NACP is confirmed by the materials of an internal audit conducted by the Command of the Territorial Defence Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. on 16 December 2023, Major General A. Bargylevych, Commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine’s Territorial Defence Forces, sent a report of a criminal offence to the territorial department of the State Bureau of Investigation in Kyiv.
Boyko also mentions Shabunin’s statement on his YouTube blog, where he claimed that Novikov’s appointment as NAPC head cost him $11,000 because he was unable to obtain a tax amnesty. Boyko suggests that Novikov may have tried to compensate Shabunin for this money through business trips to the NACP.
The journalist has repeatedly voiced other accusations against Shabunin. In particular, the activist is accused of misappropriating a Nissan Pathfinder jeep for his personal use, which was imported into the country and handed over to him as humanitarian aid for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
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Shabunin’s explanation
Vitaliy Shabunin denies all the accusations, but does not go into details.
“I voluntarily mobilised in Kyiv in the first days of the large-scale invasion (25.02.2022). …in addition to voluntary mobilisation, I have had legal grounds for demobilisation since the first day of service, which I have not used,” he wrote on Facebook,
– he wrote on Facebook, neither confirming nor denying the information about his long-term business trips to the NACP.
He also disagrees with the accusation of misappropriating a volunteer car. According to the accusation, Shabunin appropriated a car intended for the Armed Forces and is driving it around Kyiv. However, the activist claims that he has every right to do so, as the car was handed over to him personally.
“There are two forms of car transfer: for a military unit (the car is put on black licence plates) and to a military personally (it remains on foreign licence plates) (paragraph 3-3 of Article 15 of the Law of Ukraine ‘On Humanitarian Aid’). That’s why you see so many snags around (in my case, a car 20 years old!) with foreign number plates. By the way, that snag is in service in the East. But if I need it for service, I will borrow it again for a while,”
– the activist wrote.
These words were also signed by the CEO Club Ukraine, the organisation whose funds were allegedly used to buy the car.
“…the car was purchased entirely at the expense of private donors of the CEO Club with the aim of further transferring the car for the needs of the soldier Vitaliy Shabunin… CEO Club and the relevant benefactors have no questions or claims against Vitaliy regarding his use of the car, as the terms of the transfer did not specify that the car would be used exclusively in the combat zone. Moreover, we emphasise that the car was handed over to Vitaliy as a military man, which is fully permissible in terms of the current legislation,”
– the organisation said.
In general, the head of the Anti-Corruption Action Centre claims that these accusations and the information campaign against him are part of the persecution of the activist by the Office of the President of Ukraine because of his systematic fight against corruption in the state and the Office of the President of Ukraine in particular.
