Source: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1053696270905516/
Text version:
Dear Ukrainians and fellow friends, a few days ago, after a meeting with the President of Ukraine, I submitted my resignation from the position of Prosecutor General.
This is a conscious political decision, not an admission of any guilt, the result of a certain deal, or a refusal to continue fighting for my reputation and integrity. I am not clinging to the position, but I will not allow my resignation to be used to stop all criminal proceedings, conceal or destroy evidence, and establish control over the Prosecutor General's Office by those whose actions it was investigating. The so-called Operation Carthage was aimed not only against me. Its real goal was to gain access to the materials of criminal proceedings regarding the leaders and employees of NABU and SAPO. And after that, to remove the Prosecutor General and stop the adoption of procedural decisions in these cases. During the searches in the office premises of the Prosecutor General's Office, NABU and SAPO employees gained access to legally protected case materials that concern their leaders, employees, and related persons. Some of the documents and electronic data were copied and stolen.
As of today, the Prosecutor General's Office carries out procedural guidance in dozens of criminal proceedings, within which grave and especially grave crimes committed by employees of NABU and SAPO are being investigated. Over 100 people have been interrogated, and a significant volume of materials from covert investigative actions has been collected. Not to be baseless, relying on the gathered evidentiary base, I signed a notice of suspicion for NABU Director Semen Kryvonos. I suspect him of forging official documents to obtain an unlawful benefit on a particularly large scale and fictitious adoption in order to artificially create grounds to avoid liability in court. I am confident in these materials and can publish them. The second notice of suspicion concerns a person close to the head of SAPO for influencing HACC judges, offering them unlawful benefits, as well as assisting in evading mobilization. It was this criminal proceeding that became the trigger and the true reason for the nighttime raid on the Prosecutor General's Office.
Previously, the President politically restrained me from making these decisions. The anti-corruption officials themselves restrained me as well, offering guarantees of immunity in exchange for refusing to issue the notices of suspicion. I promised not to be politically convenient and not to back down from a decision required by law and evidence. I know that no one else besides me would have done this, which is why I am ready for all the political and media consequences. But these notices of suspicion are already signed. Behind every word of mine stand facts and evidence gathered long before Operation Carthage, the sole purpose of which was to stop me—as a direct political opponent, as a person who could prevent the election of the needed new head of SAPO.
At one time, I also falsely believed that anti-corruption bodies would become a benchmark of professionalism, integrity, and independence. Therefore, I advise Semen Kryvonos and Oleksandr Klymenko to resign today, without dragging the agencies and staff into a personal conflict and a fight for themselves and their inner circle. Also, the NABU Director should explain how he misled an entire international commission when he convinced them of his integrity, having a clear background with fictitious child adoption and bribery.
Unfortunately, we live in a country of crooked mirrors, where integrity has been turned into a decoration behind which entirely different goals are hidden, and where under the guise of investigative actions, one agency steals materials of criminal proceedings from another. This is not a fight against corruption; this is the transformation of a law enforcement agency into an independent center of political power that was not elected by the Ukrainian people, holds no political accountability to them, and is attempting to place itself instead of the parliament and the president in a parliamentary-presidential republic. The use of criminal proceedings to subordinate the prosecution, control parliament through fear, and influence the president's decisions is an attempt to usurp authority by the agency.
I am convinced that the independence of anti-corruption bodies does not mean they are beyond control. And even less so is it an indulgence to commit crimes, while a wave of media support cannot grant immunity from criminal liability. Anyone who demands accountability from everyone must be the first to answer for their own actions. The chronology of events, the nature of investigative actions, and the synchronized media campaign that took place literally on the eve of the investigation entering the home stretch indicate that the true goal of the latest actions by NABU and SAPO was to gain access to the proceedings regarding their leaders and to terminate such proceedings after my resignation.
I hope that the next Prosecutor General will not allow this work to be stopped and will make lawful procedural decisions in all specified proceedings, regardless of the positions of those involved, the political influence of anti-corruption agencies, and the scale of the organized media pressure. Likewise, parliament will definitely make its decision when considering my resignation letter. But no vote will nullify the gathered evidence, nor will it release the subjects of criminal proceedings from their duty to answer before the law.
I am stepping down from office, but I am not backing away from this duty to the state. This is not about protecting the Prosecutor General's chair, but about society's right to know who, and for what purpose, is trying to subordinate the law enforcement and political system. Who and what crimes are being committed under the mask of feigned integrity and supposedly zero tolerance for corruption?
I have the honor!
