Court Denies AMCU Head Travel to OECD Event in Paris

The Supreme Anti-Corruption Court did not allow the head of the Antimonopoly Committee, Pavlo Kyrylenko, to travel abroad to Paris, France for events of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) from December 2 to 6.

As indicated, Kyrylenko's defense attorney requested the temporary lifting of the following obligations: a ban on traveling outside Kyiv, surrendering foreign passports, and wearing an electronic bracelet. According to the attorney, the AMCU was designated as the sole body responsible for cooperation with the OECD. The prosecutor of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office did not grant permission to travel, so the defense appealed to the court. According to the attorney, Kyrylenko was personally invited to these events, and his trip was approved by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in a letter dated November 29.

However, investigating judge Lesya Fedorak refused to grant Kyrylenko permission to leave. She noted that the law on the AMCU places the responsibilities of the committee's cooperation with international organizations, state bodies and non-governmental organizations of other states on the first deputy or deputy chairman of the AMCU. It was Kyrylenko who was supposed to distribute this responsibility between them. The judge also pointed out that although Kyrylenko was personally invited to the events, it is likely that this was preceded by other information provided to the organizers of the OECD Events by the Ukrainian side regarding the circle of persons who will represent Ukraine at such events.

Shmyhal's letter also does not contain any indication of Kyrylenko's direct participation in OECD events, as it only approves the foreign trip. In addition, the prerequisite for the Prime Minister's approval of Kyrylenko's foreign trip was a letter justifying the need for the trip, which the defense did not provide. It is likely that such a letter was initiated by Kyrylenko himself, as the head of the AMCU.

Pavlo Kyrylenko is a suspect in the EBK database.

Earlier it became known that a former colony employee received 6 years for a bribe.

We also wrote that the former Deputy Minister of Energy remained in custody.