The court is currently deciding on the preventive measure to be applied to the politician, the Anti-Corruption Center announced on Wednesday.
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It is stated that O. Stefanišyna’s lawyers requested the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court to hold the hearing on the preventive measure behind closed doors.
It is not yet clear what O. Stefanišyna is suspected of, but she was previously charged in a NABU case involving Viktor Yanukovych’s associate – former Minister of Justice Olena Lukash.
As noted by the Anti-Corruption Center, this case is currently being heard by the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court.
According to this case, O. Lukash and other suspects are accused of embezzling 2 million 523 thousand hryvnias, which in 2013–2014 were allocated for aligning national legislation with European Union laws.
On July 12, the media reported that O. Stefanišyna requested to terminate her diplomatic service due to personal circumstances. On the same day, Member of Parliament Oleksiy Honcharenka announced that the former deputy prime minister might receive a suspicion notice from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau.
Problems with an apartment or a car?
Investigative journalist Yuriy Nikolov stated that, according to his sources unrelated to NABU, suspicions regarding O. Stefanišyna’s income are being prepared. According to J. Nikolov, it might concern an apartment or a car.
On August 3, O. Stefanišyna confirmed her intention to resign from the position of Ukraine’s ambassador to the USA and stated that she made the decision herself due to personal circumstances.
“A storm in a teacup”
After some time, in a comment published on the social network Facebook, O. Stefanišyna responded to the suspicions from NABU and SAP, emphasizing that she has nothing to hide.
The former diplomat said that since the beginning of her work as ambassador, questions about “certain procedural actions of law enforcement agencies,” in which her name is mentioned, have regularly appeared in the media.
“Any procedural actions are lawful activities of the law enforcement system, not established guilt. I view these events calmly and without unnecessary emotions, and the noise around this story resembles more a storm in a teacup,” O. Stefanišyna explained.
According to the former ambassador, she publicly commented on most of the questions regarding her real estate more than a year ago and provided journalists with documents related to her apartment.
“I had nothing and have nothing to hide. For more than ten years, I have dedicated myself to serving the state. Some were already quick to imagine that my diplomatic service across the ocean would become a convenient distance from uncomfortable questions. However, the mission was successfully completed, and I am in Ukraine to answer here. Distance will be neither protection nor an excuse,” she emphasized.
Zelensky recently dismissed Stefanišyna
15min reminds that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed Olha Stefanišyna from the position of Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States on Monday.
Talks about O. Stefanišyna possibly leaving her post circulated since mid-July, when an unexpected government reshuffle began.
One person close to O. Stefanišyna told the Kyiv Independent portal that she decided to leave the post “of her own accord.”
However, another source familiar with the government reshuffle said that plans to reorganize the government were prepared before O. Stefanišyna allegedly made such a decision.
V. Zelensky initially planned to appoint recently dismissed Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko as Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States. However, she rejected this offer, delivering an unexpected blow to the president’s administration plans.
Ukrainian media previously reported that companies related to O. Stefanišyna’s ex-husband received contracts for managing confiscated property. Additionally, in 2019, she was charged in another embezzlement case.
