SBU investigating alleged destruction of classified items in high-profile cases by State Bureau of Investigations reps

The Security Service of Ukraine is conducting an investigation into the possible destruction by employees of the State Bureau of Investigation of part of secret information in a number of criminal proceedings, reported the Prosecutor General's Office at the request of UA:PBC.

Criminal proceedings include those related to the "Kharkiv Agreements", the "coal case" of Viktor Medvedchuk, the Maidan case and a number of other cases involving former Ukrainian officials.

The PGO reported that law enforcement officers opened criminal proceedings under the following articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:

Part 1 of Art. 111 — "Treason";
Part 2 of Art. 329 — "Loss of documents containing state secrets";
Part 2 of Art. 357 — "Stealing, misappropriating, extorting documents, stamps, seals, taking possession of them by fraud or abuse of official position, or their damage."

"Currently, prosecutors and investigators are taking measures aimed at restoring the destroyed items containing classified information, by establishing and demanding copies that were kept in other institutions," the Office reported.

Earlier, the publication Current Time reported with reference to informed sources that the investigation is being conducted by the Security Service of Ukraine, and the Prosecutor General's Office is conducting the procedural management. A notice of suspicion has not yet been served to anyone in this proceeding.

Background

Current Time TV journalist Iryna Romaliyska reported on July 7 that in the first days of the full-scale war, representatives of the SBI took secret files in high-profile cases from Kyiv to Khmelnytskyi, where they were subsequently destroyed.

According to her, the items related to cases concerning the "Kharkiv Agreements", Maidan cases (dispersal of protesters, impoverishment of the Ukrainian army), the so-called coal case and several cases involving the fifth president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko.

Later, the journalist wrote that the SBI had accused her of lying and manipulation. On the other hand, the Prosecutor General's Office confirmed to her that the SBI had destroyed some items carrying secret information, while the prosecutors had not given consent to the destruction of those.

The SBI responded on July 8 that none of the criminal cases mentioned in the media have been closed, and the proceedings continue to be investigated. In this statement, the Bureau did not confirm that it had destroyed individual items of classified information. Although the post dated July 13 already contains this information.

The Bureau said that with such statements people are trying to destabilize and discredit the work of the law enforcement agency during the war. The SBI also opened a criminal case for interfering with its work.