Serhiy Lyamets: How to explain the abnormal acceleration in Shevchenko's case?

The personal score-settling with Kyrylo Shevchenko is nearing its final stage. This is the main conclusion that can be drawn from the latest statement of the Kharkiv Human Rights Group. 

Quote: "It is disturbing that.. these are methods that are reminiscent of Soviet times and the arbitrariness of law enforcement agencies under President Yanukovych."

KHPG is a reputable and truly independent organization, so its statement can be an authoritative testimony. Now it's not just a journalist's assumption, but a strong argument.

Another concern is that the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) in this case may act as an accomplice to such actions... Such actions may be aimed at preventing the public coverage of these agreements, which have often outraged society, such as in Zlochevsky’s case, and preventing the defense of Kirill Shevchenko from accessing the content of such agreements and court hearings, which may become the main evidence of falsification of Shevchenko's charges under Art. 255 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine and others.

The HACC is essentially blessing the violation of the law. At present, the case looks like a deliberate attempt to send one person to jail, the former head of the NBU, who was the chairman of the board of Ukrgasbank before his appointment to the regulator. It can also be interpreted as targeted political persecution.

The most interesting part remains in parentheses: who is taking revenge on Shevchenko and why. Who is trying so hard to put him behind bars? What exactly is he being punished for? Whom did he refuse, and in what way, so that even after his release he could "be caught up" so systematically? We can only say one thing: these people have a huge influence on the NABU-SAPO-HACC branch.

Who currently has such influence? I have at least two versions. The first is the conventional vertical of the Presidential Office, headed by Andrii Yermak and his deputy, Oleh Tatarov. They undoubtedly act in sync with the NABU-SAPO. But in my experience, their style is usually different - to get the official fired and then forget about it. Therefore, intuition suggests that another group of influencers is involved in Shevchenko's case. We can only guess which one. But there is no doubt that the case is deliberate, if not "ordered".

This concerns the intention. As for the implementation, here is another quote from the statement of the Kharkiv Law Enforcement Group:

"In September 2023, the affairs of Ukrgasbank became abnormally active. The SAPO began to enter into plea agreements with the defendants on a large scale, and the HACC began to promptly consider such cases in closed court hearings without involving the lawyers of the main defendants and without public access to such hearings... Thus, on September 26, 2023, the HACC panel of judges approved the first plea agreements concluded between the three defendants and the SAPO prosecutor."

In other words, in just two weeks, a lot of work was done that had not been done in the previous five years. Why? The working version is as follows: it was done to force certain witnesses to shift all responsibility to Shevchenko.

Here is the second quote:

"Initially, the Ukrgasbank case was a single criminal proceeding, but then it was divided into several cases. Kirill Shevchenko and other top managers of the bank are in the first stage, and those who have made a deal with the investigation are in the second stage. After that, we, as the defense, are not notified of hearings regarding the defendants who have made a deal with the investigation."

This already indicates that the case is being confidently and quickly led to a known verdict. Of course, ignoring the proceedings in court, as this could have dragged on for months, if not years. While a verdict is required here and now. In particular, this may indicate that instead of public justice, a deliberate "bringing to justice" is used. The entire NABU-SAPO-HACC vertical is involved.

So, bad predictions are coming true. About a month ago, I wrote that the NABU and the SAPO had changed their tactics in the case of the former NBU head. They reclassified the case from entirely commercial articles to the creation of a criminal community. This is the so-called "thief-in-law' article," which was mostly used to send so-called "thieves-in-law" to prison.

Even then, it raised the suspicion that someone was deliberately trying to settle scores with Kyrylo Shevchenko personally. Because where is Shevchenko and where are the "thieves-in-law"? Of course, from media reports, we imagine that every top official is a thief by default. If I hold a big position, I am bound to steal billions. Then let us send Andrii Yermak, Denys Shmyhal and Danylo Hetmantsev to prison right now. Let us repeat the experience of the French Revolution or the October Uprising. Let us consider the guilt already proven. Of course, God forbid, this is just a conditional example, which makes it clear that there is a certain limit to the practical use of the law. It is then that the guilt must be proved, and the punishment must be appropriate to the crime. Otherwise, you observe the Stalin-style law, according to which you could go to the Gulag for three collective farm ears of grain.

A month ago, I thought that the case against the former Ukrgasbank officials was starting to fall apart. I am not saying that the bankers were not guilty, and I am in no way justifying them if they were. But it seemed to me that the NABU and SAPO were not openly dragging the case out, witnesses were not giving the necessary testimony, and the corpus delicti was not being formed. So the rates were raised. This is how the "thief-in-law article" appeared in Shevchenko's case. Procedurally, everything seems to be in accordance with the law. But I'm talking about the essence.

Unfortunately, further developments confirm this version. It seems that the plan is to publicly call Shevchenko a great thief. They want to turn this case into an illustrative case that will be put on the NABU's honorary plaque and used to make presentations in the United States. Perhaps the former NBU governor is being turned into a kind of Al Capone or Gambino.

But I have great doubts that this case can be shown in a more or less decent society. And not just because there is a banal settling of between the letters. And also because Shevchenko, of course, is not Al Capone and Gambino. In his biography, there is an episode of his chairmanship of Ukrgasbank, which deserves careful study and a corresponding court decision. But these are rather trivial things. Turning Shevchenko into the leader of a criminal community is frankly too much.

To be frank, a criminal group is more likely to be defined as a public debt pyramid, a cover-up of smuggling at customs, a scheme with deposit certificates, or, excuse me, the so called Big Construction. And the case of Ukrgaz is a case of a typical scheme for Ukrainian banks to encourage large deposits. Even though it is clumsily made, it is not a big enough level. To elevate him to the level of a criminal community looks more like a deliberate use of power to settle scores with Shevchenko.

 In the USSR, such predetermined sentences were commonplace. "The Shakhtyn case, the Doctors' case, and various cases of "enemies of the people" are the examples. This remains a common occurrence in Russia. It is very unfortunate that the anti-corruption vertical NABU-SAPO-HACC does not do their job cleanly, but resorts to rather dirty tricks. This case discredits not only the "old" law enforcement and judicial vertical (to which we are at least accustomed), but also the "new" one, which seems to be built on different principles.

P.S. I add Shevchenko's opinion in the comments. At least he is quite soberly aware of what he is dealing with.