Chief Anti-Corruption Prosecutor Nazar Kholodnytsky’s office said on May 6 it had opened a criminal case against ex-Prosecutor General Ruslan Riaboshapka.
Riaboshapka is accused of lying in his asset declaration and bribery, Kholodnytsky’s office said.
The anti-corruption prosecutor’s office said that it had been ordered by the High Anti-Corruption Court to open the case.
Kholodnytsky’s office and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, better known as NABU, which will investigate the case, declined to elaborate on the details of the investigation.
Riaboshapka dismissed the accusations. “From the standpoint of criminal law and criminal trial, this case has no prospects,” he said.
He added that the case was being used for media attacks on him, arguing that it could be a result of his criticism of President Volodymyr Zelensky and his inner circle. Zelensky’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
According to Riaboshapka, the case could be linked to a loan that his family took out to buy a house.
In 2016, Riaboshapka’s wife, Olesya Bartovshchuk, bought a house with an estimated value of 400,000 euros in France. Riaboshapka denied accusations of receiving any illegal income, saying in February his family had taken out a loan to finance the purchase and was still paying the debt.
Riaboshapka was appointed as prosecutor general by Zelensky in August, but later fell out with him. He was fired in March, and the campaign against him was led by allies of oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky.
Kholodnytsky’s office, which opened the Riaboshapka case, has been involved in many controversies.
In April the office transferred a corruption case linked to Zelensky’s Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak from the NABU to the police, prompting accusations that it had thus buried and blocked the case.
In March, Geo Leros, a member of Zelensky’s Servant of the People party, published videos implicating Andriy Yermak’s brother Denys in corruption. They showed the chief of staff’s brother considering candidates for government jobs and discussing receiving money from some of them. The Yermak brothers denied the accusations of wrongdoing.
In 2018, Kholodnytsky’s office also closed an Hr 14 million embezzlement case against Interior Minister Arsen Avakov’s son Oleksandr. The decision was made despite the fact that the NABU investigated video footage in which Oleksandr Avakov can be seen and heard negotiating the corrupt deal.
Oleksandr Avakov denies the accusations of wrongdoing.
In 2018, the NABU also released audio recordings in which Kholodnytsky is heard pressuring anti-corruption prosecutors and courts to stall cases, urging a witness to give false testimony and tipping off suspects about future searches. Kholodnytsky confirmed that the tapes were authentic but said they had been taken out of context.
