The State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) has questioned 562 witnesses in cases involving former president Petro Poroshenko.
The press service of the State Bureau of Investigation announced this in a statement, the Ukrainian News Agency reports.
According to the statement, Poroshenko failed to appear for questioning 20 times and appeared for questioning three times.
In total, the State Bureau of Investigation is investigating 13 criminal cases involving the former president.
The State Bureau of Investigation questioned 562 witnesses, sent 431 requests, and secured temporary access to 205 documents during the pre-trial investigation in these cases.
The State Bureau of Investigation also scheduled 35 expert assessments, including 27 expert assessments in the criminal proceedings involving the sending of Ukrainian naval vessels through the Kerch Strait.
The State Bureau of Investigation also froze the shares and assets of the Kuznia na Rybalskomu shipyard and EUR 31 million in the bank accounts of former parliamentarian Volodymyr Makeenko, who owns the Direct television channel.
According to the State Bureau of Investigation, Poroshenko did not assist investigators in establishing the truth in the case during his questioning.
“For example, when investigator asked about the circumstances of the sale of shares worth about USD 300 million in the Kuznia na Rybalskomu shipyard, the fifth president of Ukraine said that he did not know anything about it,” the State Bureau of Investigation said in the statement.
Poroshenko also failed to appear for a polygraph test as part of the criminal proceeding involving possible tax evasion and money laundering during the sale of the Kuznia na Rybalskomu shipyard.
The State Bureau of Investigation has also sent to the Prosecutor-General’s Office a draft notification of suspicion that Poroshenko exerted undue influence on a competition for selection of members of the High Council of Justice during the period from March to May 2019.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, the State Bureau of Investigation has refused to close the criminal proceedings it launched against Poroshenko on suspicion of exerting undue influence on the competition for selection of members of the High Council of Public Justice.
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