The leakage of information in the case of bribery of the head of the Ternopil Regional Council, Mykhailo Holovko, prevented the detention of an influential high-ranking official.
The head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SACPO) Oleksandr Klymenko announced this in an interview to Dzerkalo Tyzhnia (Mirror of the Week), Ukrainian News Agency reports.
"In the case on suspicion of the head of the Ternopil Regional Council and two deputy heads of the Regional Military Administration of the same region in obtaining undue benefit we had information leakage. Therefore, a certain period of time had to wait to put the vigilance to sleep. And it worked - the defendants returned to criminal activity, after that we realized," Klymenko said.
However, according to him, the leakage of information prevented from documenting the involvement of another influential senior official.
"Equally, in my opinion, this leakage prevented us from documenting the involvement of another high-ranking official," Klymenko said.
He did not specify the name of this high-ranking official.
Klymenko added that the source of the leakage was never established.
"Unfortunately, this happens quite often due to the fact that the SACPO is not an independent body and we still do not have an independent hearing of the defendants. But where the fact has already been recorded, the investigation is officially underway, the risks of harm are not so great," Klymenko stressed.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, the head of the Ternopil Regional Council, Mykhailo Holovko, faces from 8 to 12 years in prison for bribery.
The Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau informed the head of the Ternopil Regional Council, Mykhailo Holovko, and 2 deputy heads of the Ternopil Regional Military Administration about the suspicion of receiving illegal benefits.
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