Former tax chief Myroslav Prodan has left Ukraine, escaping a criminal investigation of him for alleged abuse of power. Prosecutors say he has ignored their summons for questioning, while he says he’s simply undergoing medical examination abroad.
Citing unnamed sources in the Moldovan border guard service, Yuriy Butusov, chief editor of Censor.net news website, reported on Nov. 13 that Prodan arrived in Moldova by car on Nov. 5. Later that day he flew from Chisinau to Warsaw.
“According to our sources, Prodan was wary of arrest amid the probe into corruption during his time in the office,” Butusov wrote on his Facebook page.
Prodan became the acting head of the State Fiscal Service after his predecessor Roman Nasirov went on trial in 2017 for illegally writing off taxes of three private gas-producing companies in the interest of fugitive lawmaker Oleksandr Onyshchenko. The trial is ongoing as Nasirov has announced his intention to run for president in the March election.
In September, as soon as the Cabinet of Ministers announced an open competition for the position of the head of the State Fiscal Service, Prodan resigned, saying he wanted to avoid a conflict of interest since he was going to nominate himself for the job.
But there was a more ulterior reason for his resignation. Prodan was in the crosshairs of prosecutors gathering evidence on his abuse of power amid the government’s crackdown on smuggling and embezzlement in the fiscal and customs services.
The Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutors’ Office claimed that Prodan didn’t show up to questioning and ignored multiple notices.
Prodan, who had not given interviews or posted on social media since his resignation on Sept. 5, broke his silence to explain that he had gone abroad for medical examination.
“After my resignation from the State Fiscal Service, I permanently stayed in Ukraine and through my lawyers tried to communicate with law enforcers, but haven’t gotten a single response,” he posted on his Facebook page on Nov. 13.
He says he discovered that he had been summoned to investigators on Nov. 7 while at a clinic where he was undergoing a medical examination. He accused prosecutors of discrediting him and making it appear that he is avoiding them.
