Investigators
have discovered a broader scope of illegal activities of one of the
"diamond" prosecutors, wrote Davit Sakvarelidze, the deputy
prosecutor general, Odesa region prosecutor, in the social media when
commenting on the criminal proceedings initiated against former deputy chief of
the main investigation department of the Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) Volodymyr
Shapakin and former deputy prosecutor of Kyiv region Oleksandr Korniets.
"Illegal
business protection scheme that we have discovered and the extortion of money
from members of a company involved in extraction of sand was only a "tip
of the iceberg." During the pre-trial investigation it was established
that the scale and range of illegal activities of one of the defendants in the
case is much wider than initially expected," Sakvarelidze wrote.
After
familiarization with materials of the criminal proceedings, the investigators
will conduct a series of re-cross examination, taking into account new facts,
in order to better understand the defense position.
As UNIAN
reported earlier, deputy chief of the main investigation department of
the PGO Shapakin and deputy prosecutor of Kyiv region Korniets were detained on
July 05, as a result of a special operation.
A total of
$500,000 in cash and a significant amount of jewelry were seized during the
searches. The investigation also found that the officials of the Prosecutor's
Office conspired and received a UAH 3,150 million bribe.
During searches
of Shapakin, $400,000 was seized, while the searches of Korniets revealed 65
diamonds and a Kalashnikov assault rifle.
Both detainees
are officially suspected of committing a crime under Part 4 of Article 368 of
the Criminal Code of Ukraine (acceptance of a bribe).
Kyiv's Pechersk
District Court set up a UAH 3.2 million bail for Korniets. On July
31, Korniets was released from jail after making bail.
On July 16,
Prosecutor General of Ukraine Viktor Shokin issued an order on dismissal of two
top prosecutors. On July 21, the Kyiv Court of Appeals upheld the restraining
measure for Shapakin in the form of arrest and changed the right to bail in the
amount of UAH 6.4 million. On October 1, Korniets' lawyer said that his client
had appealed to the Kyiv District Administrative Court with a lawsuit demanding
to recognize his dismissal illegal and reinstate him in office. He also
demanded payment of the average monthly salary during his forced absence.
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