First Deputy Director of the State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) Oleksandr Babikov has said that he never represented interests of former President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych, although he signed technical documents as an employees of a law firm.
“The lawyers are propagating this issue [the claims that Babikov was Yanukovych’s lawyer] and consciously manipulating the factual circumstances… I never represented his [Yanukovych’s] interests, I never was acquainted to him,” Babikov said at a press conference in Kyiv on Monday.
He also said that he never signed any contracts on lawyer services with Yanukovych.
However, Babikov said that he used to sign some documents as a representative of a law form.
“Sometimes there appears a technical need that a lawyer, who is, in fact, a part of a law firm, to sign documents,” he said.
Babikov also said that the head of the SBI personally controls the departments which is in charge of the investigation into the Maidan cases, adding that he [Babikov] has no procedural relation to or influence on the Maidan cases.
As reported, Babikov worked for the law firm Aver Lex, which was engaged in the defense of Yanukovych.
On January 2, Oleksandr Buriak, who previously held the position of SBI deputy director, was appointed head the SBI’s Maidan investigation department.
On January 24, members of the European Solidary faction visited the office of the SBI to tell the SBI leaders about the inadmissibility of appointing the lawyer of disgraced ex-president Yanukovych, Oleksandr Babikov, as SBI Deputy Director. A protest rally against the appointment of Babikov also took place near the SBI building.
