Yuriy Lutsenko: NABU closes case of Zlochevsky and Biden without any investigative actions

Ex-Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko has accused the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) of closing without any investigative actions the embezzlement case opened against fugitive Minister of Ecology Mykola Zlochevsky's Burisma.

Lutsenko announced this in an interview for the media outlet Censor.NET. The ex-prosecutor general said that some of the cases related to tax evasion, money laundering and abuse of official position by Minister Zlochevsky and his company Burisma had been transferred by former Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, in violation of jurisdiction, from the Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) to NABU, where those cases were closed without any investigative actions. "This particular case was the most promising one, because, firstly, it suggested a serious term – up to 12 years. Secondly, I would say it is a rather provable case, albeit not an easy one. And, thirdly, virtually all the documents had been collected," Lutsenko said. "But in December 2015, Mr. Shokin suddenly transferred this matter from the PGO to NABU. From my point of view, it was done without observing jurisdiction. NABU later closed the case without any investigative actions."

Lutsenko also said that the transfer of the case by Shokin from the PGO to NABU, where it was closed, happened under external influence: "[U.S. President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy] Giuliani told me that [U.S. former Vice President Joe] Biden called the Ukrainian president three times in December 2015. And a week later, Burisma's case moved from the PGO to NABU." After Biden's son, Hunter Biden, got a seat on Burisma's board of directors with a monthly salary of UA$100,000, having no experience in the energy sector, the criminal case was closed by NABU headed by Artem Sytnyk. According to the U.S. president, Hunter Biden's high salary was a "reward" to the ex-vice president's family.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian parliament has already collected 216 signatures with the required 150 for a draft resolution to dismiss NABU Director Sytnyk, convicted by the court of corruption.  Experts say that Artem Sytnyk has also become a major irritant in Ukrainian-American relations because of his outright playing up to Trump's rival, Hillary Clinton, in the last presidential election, and will most probably be fired in the near future. Sytnyk was also spotted in the illegal transfer of NABU's investigation materials through the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, to which Sytnyk himself confessed on audio recordings previously published by ex-lawmaker Boryslav Rozenblat.