Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) has opened criminal proceedings due to illegal entry into the premises of lawyers, wiretapping and abuse of official powers by employees of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NACB) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SACPO). Media report this, referring to official information from the PGO.
According to the report, the PGO has registered criminal proceedings on the facts of illegal entry into the premises of lawyers, wiretapping and abuse of official powers by employees of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NACB) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SACPO). The information was entered into the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations under three articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. First of all, for illegal entry into a dwelling or other property of a person and illegal search therein committed by officials (Part 2 of Article 162 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
"According to the investigation, on December 18-19, 2023, the NACB detectives entered the lawyers' premises without proper legal grounds and conducted 7 searches there," the report states.
As journalists' sources reported, in particular, this concerns illegal actions against lawyer Dmytro Borzykh, in whose office the NACB established illegal wiretapping.
The NACB detectives are also charged with abuse of power or official authority (Part 1 of Article 365 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) and obstruction of the activities of a defense attorney or violation of attorney-client privilege (Part 2 of Article 397 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
"These are deliberate actions of law enforcement officers that clearly exceeded their legal powers and caused significant harm to the rights of citizens and legal entities protected by law. The investigation established that officials of the NACB and the SACPO used their official position to interfere in the activities of lawyers. In particular, wiretapping devices were illegally installed, which allowed for the secret collection of information about lawyers' communication with clients," the report states.
The day before, the Ukrainian National Bar Association appealed to the Prosecutor General's Office and the State Bureau of Investigation with a statement about the commission of a serious crime by the NACB detectives who installed a "wiretapping" in the office of metropolitan lawyers. According to journalists, the "wiretapping" was installed in a meeting room where lawyers discussed their defense strategies with clients. Moreover, the clients whose conversations were recorded were under investigation by the NACB itself.
At the same time, the media reported on the detention at a checkpoint by the NACB detectives with armed special forces of two young children of lawyer Borzykh – 8-year-old and 5-year-old daughters, who were on their way to school and kindergarten with their father. The detectives forbade calling a lawyer, referring to the "order" of the management. For almost two hours, the children remained locked in the car, without contact with their mother. Everything happened in the presence of the police, who confirmed the fact of the children's detention.
Previously, well-known lawyer Oleh Shram commented on the lawyers' case, noting that the actions of the NACB go beyond the competence of the Bureau, since they are not corrupt and are not subject to investigation by them, and the NACB representatives face criminal liability.
Recently, Ukrainian human rights activists stated that the NACB has not met society's expectations regarding the fight against top corruption. In particular, according to the founder of the People's Rear volunteer group, former Deputy Minister for Temporarily Occupied Territories Heorhii Tuka, there have been almost no court verdicts during the Bureau's long period of operation, and instead the agency is busy "abusing the institution of agents, that is, provocations to commit crimes."
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