Sienkevych's position on NABU and SAPO: All law enforcement agencies should be independent

Against the backdrop of restrictions on the powers of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, the mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Sienkevych, expressed his position on its activities. He stressed that all law enforcement agencies in Ukraine should be independent.

He said this when answering a question from a correspondent of NikVesti, during a press conference at the city council today, 30 July.

«I believe that any body, dependent or independent, should be held accountable for their actions or inaction. I don't know how everything is organised there, who will monitor and check whom, I don't know. There are people who are professionals in law for this. We'll have to see. All the other issues — independent law enforcement agencies must be independent in our country,» said Sienkevych.

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In addition, the mayor called the deprivation of powers of anti-corruption bodies the direct responsibility of those MPs who voted for Law №12414.

«As for whether I have the ability to change or influence the laws adopted by the Rada, I have no such influence. The deputies who voted for it were also elected by Mykolaiv residents, and I think they should be responsible for what they vote for,» the mayor assured.

Commenting on the Bureau's activities, Oleksandr Sienkevych recalled the case of 2021, when Deputy Mayor Serhii Korenev was detained. According to the mayor, the NABU then claimed that the official was trying to flee the country, but this was not true.

«I came across the work of NABU when Deputy Mayor Serhii Koreniev was detained at the border. NABU stated in its publications that he was detained while trying to flee the country. This is completely untrue, as Koreniev, as a deputy who had access to state secrets, had to notify the SSU whenever he left the country. He informed the SSU a week before his departure what he was planning to do and to which country. It was not a runaway trip, it was his official leave. He was detained with 2.5 thousand euros, somehow a bag with things,» he recalled.

The mayor stressed that the NABU had published a statement on the detention before the circumstances had been clarified and without observing the secrecy of the investigation, which further damaged his deputy's reputation.

«I believed that if it was an investigative body, this applies to everyone: the prosecutor's office, the police, the SSU, and the secret of the investigation should be respected before making publications in the media. Secondly, to think about how it affects the situation, the political situation, as you said. And third. To be responsible for their words, because so far no one has been held accountable for those actions: his money was confiscated, which was returned at the first trial, and so on. No one has been held accountable for this. I would like to remind you that in the ongoing trial of Soborna Square, we have not heard Koreniev's motives, nor have we heard any questions about the money he received or did not receive, nor have we heard about any kickbacks, and this is not in the case file. And who will be responsible for the lost reputation? The answer is: probably no one. That's my feeling about this case, which was handled by the NABU,» said Sienkevych.

It is worth recalling that in 2021, the mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Sienkevych, called «NABU an instrument of political persecution». This statement was made by the mayor against the backdrop of searches by NABU investigators in the apartment of the deputy mayor and then director of the housing and communal services department, Serhii Koreniev.

The investigative actions in the official's apartment were related to the reconstruction of Soborna Square.