Yevgeny Shevchenko about the bribe in the Zlochevsky case
Last Friday, the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court completed the interrogation of Yevgeny Shevchenko, the accuser in the case of $ 5 million in bribes for the leadership of anti-corruption bodies, reports court reporter.
On June 12, 2020, Nikolai Ilyashenko, then First Deputy Head of the Main Department of the State Tax Service in Kiev, lawyer Andrei Kicha, who worked for Burisma, and former tax officer Elena Mazurova, were detained in Kiev. They were accused of complicity in providing a bribe for closing the criminal case of ex-Minister of Ecology Nikolai Zlochevsky, who is hiding abroad, and who is hiding abroad.
Yevgeny Shevchenko about the bribe in the Zlochevsky case
The money was planned to be handed over through Yevgeny Shevchenko, who was called by journalists “a freelance agent of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau.” At that time, it was already well known that Shevchenko handed over three bribe-takers who were trying to resolve their issues with NABU. But this did not seem to stop Zlochevsky’s representatives.
Shevchenko is now an entrepreneur, and in the past a volunteer of the ATO, an activist of the Automaidan. His cooperation with NABU began at the end of 2015 – in January 2016. An acquaintance, whom he does not name, said that the prosecutor of the Prosecutor General’s Office Alexander Matyushko is ready to pay 10 thousand dollars to a member of the competition commission for the position of NABU. Shevchenko was not a member of the commission, but he knew two participants – Vitaly Shabunin and Alexei Gritsenko. Shevchenko gave Matyushko Gritsenko’s phone number. The conversation was documented, Matyushko was detained and sentenced to 2 years in prison.
Shevchenko’s participation in the high-profile case did not remain secret. The media wrote a lot about this, and he himself was repeatedly publicly covered. It would seem that after that, potential bribe-givers should have bypassed Shevchenko. But exactly the opposite happened. One of Shevchenko’s “clients” was, for example, the Odessa businessman Vadim Alperin, nicknamed the “king of smuggling”, accused of creating a criminal organization at the Kyiv customs. According to Shevchenko, he was exposed with offers of $800,000 in bribes to Andriy Kaluzhinskiy, head of the NABU special unit of detectives.
– When Matyushko was detained for 10 thousand dollars, we discussed this with Alperin. “Why did they put him in jail for bringing little?!” – there were such phrases. This characterizes the opinions of these people and the confidence that if you bring not 10 thousand dollars, but a million, then the issue will be resolved. There were funny situations. One of the defendants, when it was already known that I was collaborating with NABU, said: “My security service completely checked you and said that you can work with me.” I just sat and laughed inside, because at that time his video recording was taking place, ”the accuser recalled at a meeting of the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court.
In total, Shevchenko speaks of more than 20 cases of cooperation with NABU. But the situation reached its apogee in the summer of 2020, when, because of him, they allegedly tried to transfer $ 5 million to the leaders of NABU and SAPO for closing the criminal case of Zlochevsky.
Yevgeny Shevchenko: “We must make sure that I fly away with you”
The whistleblower was contacted by the head of the Moscow tax office, Nikolai Ilyashenko, whom he had met 3-4 years earlier in the wake of officials publicly declaring their property. Ilyashenko, who worked in the civil service for many years but provided an impressive list of real estate, attracted the attention of activists.
Shevchenko and other representatives of the NGO “Liberation Movement”, which consisted of veterans and combatants, arrived under the tax building to demand explanations and blocked Ilyashenko’s car that arrived at work. As Shevchenko said, Ilyashenko invited him to his office and, making sure that he did not have any listening devices with him, told him to go to the icon – cross himself and swear that this was not a provocation and not an order from enemies. A few weeks later, Ilyashenko provided Shevchenko with the FLP reports – himself and his wife. “As far as I remember, plus or minus it was clear that he had the opportunity to purchase apartments …‘, Shevchenko says.
After this incident, the activist and the official continued to communicate, and even friendly relations arose between them. They discussed ideas for joint business projects, such as opening a car wash complex, but none of them was implemented.
On June 1, 2020, Ilyashenko allegedly dropped a “certificate” on criminal proceedings to Shevchenko’s phone — several pages describing the circumstances of the case, the names of Zlochevsky and Kurchenko were mentioned in the document. The production said that Zlochevsky sold businessman Sergei Kurchenko, who was close to President Yanukovych, the Kherson oil transshipment, which was dubiously privatized from the state. And then he allegedly contributed to the allocation of a 800 million hryvnia stabilization loan for Real Bank Kurchenko on the security of this oil transshipment.
Ilyashenko wanted to urgently talk face to face, but Shevchenko could not come to him. Then the official seems to have begun to explain in correspondence that he wants to negotiate with NABU to close this criminal proceeding. It was about one million dollars for changing the jurisdiction – if the case of Zlochevsky with NABU is sent to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. And two million if SAP and NABU close the case themselves.
– Communication with Ilyashenko took place in a secret chat in the Telegram and these SMS disappeared. You can take a screenshot, but your interlocutor will immediately see it and it will look strange, so I didn’t do it,” the accuser explained.
Shevchenko says that he immediately phoned the head of the NABU detective unit, Andrei Kaluzhinskiy, and asked: “You are sitting? If you stand, then sit down“. Then he described the situation and sent a certificate on the Zlochevsky case.
The next day, Shevchenko called Ilyashenko and said that he needed 2-3 days to think. He was also in no hurry to officially write a statement to NABU. He says that he wanted to check, this is not some reason from the Prosecutor General’s Office or the SBU, whether Ilyashenko travels parallel to Prosecutor General Venediktova.
Yevgeny Shevchenko about the bribe in the Zlochevsky case
“I had to think so as not to get into a mess. I could be used blindly. You can mention the plot with Bigus. I felt guilty for this before the detectives, before the leadership of NABU.
Feeling the delay, Ilyashenko seems to have decided to significantly raise rates:
– If there are no tickets for the first and second dates, then perhaps there are tickets for the fifth, just hurry up, for us this is a very urgent issue. But you need to make sure that I fly away with you.
Shevchenko believes that the tax official named millions of tickets and made it clear that he himself wants to make money on this business.
– He explained that it was very urgent and Zlochevsky should return to Ukraine on the 14th. This question has risen in price so quicklyShevchenko said.
On the evening of June 3, Shevchenko called Kaluzhinsky and said that the amount of the bribe had grown to 5 million, and in the morning he would come to write a statement about the crime.
A few days later, Shevchenko, already under the control of NABU, met with Ilyashenko in his office and asked to clarify the amount of the unlawful benefit.
He took a piece of paper and drew the number “6”, and then crossed out and drew a “5”. From which I concluded that there would be 6 million dollars, but he should keep one for himself …. “One I vytsygay myself” – somehow it sounded like that. Ilyashenko said that one would be on top. This is for him and for Lena … I don’t know for sure whether it was for Ilyashenko that he fully planned to share it with Mazurova. I don’t know for sure, I can guess … When we counted this money and it turned out to be not 5 million, but 6, then Ilyashenko said that “one is for me and for Lena.”
The accomplice turned out to be a certain Elena Mazurova, a former tax employee. Shevchenko saw her for the first time only on June 12 – the day the money was transferred and the suspects were exposed. But earlier, in his presence, Ilyashenko allegedly called Mazurova on the phone about money, including a speakerphone. In 2021, Mazurova entered into a plea agreement and received a suspended sentence, pledging to testify in court against other defendants in the case.
Yevgeny Shevchenko: “There was an opinion that NABU is corrupt, and so am I”
Ilyashenko knew about Shevchenko’s involvement in NABU affairs. But, as the accuser suggests, his reputation was shaken after a journalistic investigation, which spoke of the involvement of Shevchenko and the NABU detective in corruption in the defense industry.
— When the bihus.info journalistic story came out about my alleged involvement in corruption and NABU detectives, Kaluzhinskiy, we discussed these topics. Probably, Ilyashenko had the opinion that after all NABU is corrupt, and so am I… Ilyashenko was interested in how much I earned on this.
The official voiced some concerns that anti-corruption officials might not call a big press conference about their deal in the future. And it finally turned out to be prophetic. However, he nevertheless took a risk, because Ilyashenko was allegedly convinced of the safety of the case by the positive forecast of the priest or healer.
In the presence of Shevchenko, the official made a loud phone call to someone.
“Saint Peter, a man is sitting in front of me, we are planning a big agreement with him. What do the highest powers tell us? Will this agreement be successful?
– “Everything will be fine. I see a lot of money, ”he told him something like that– Shevchenko told the words of the monk in court.
The accuser recalls that Ilyashenko said that if this issue was resolved, he would provide other materials on the Burisma company so that NABU would start criminal proceedings, and then similarly close it, earning money from Zlochevsky again.
Defenders of the accused say that many of the phrases that Shevchenko quotes are not on the NSRD recordings. These recordings were played back in court and were of rather poor quality: extraneous sounds are heard and in places it is difficult to make out who is saying what.
Yevgeny Shevchenko about the bribe in the Zlochevsky case
Shevchenko explains that Ilyashenko turned on audio interference in his office and therefore, perhaps, not everything was recorded.
For the first time, Burisma lawyer Kichu and tax officer Mazurova met Shevchenko only on June 12, the day the funds were transferred. All the defendants gathered in Ilyashenko’s office. Kicha sat down and began to read the decision to close the case, making some corrections with a pen. After that, Shevchenko brought a corrected resolution signed by the head of the SAP Nazar Kholodnytsky and sealed.
“I believe that Kicha was the key person in making the decision to transfer the money.‘, Shevchenko says. And at the same time, he clarifies that the final order of the transfer was determined by Ilyashenko.
The money was delivered to the tax building in a minibus, accompanied by a security car.
Shevchenko brought a calculating machine with him. In the underground parking lot of the tax office, Shevchenko and Ilyashenko began to count Zlochevsky’s millions – they checked several packs on a typewriter. After the transfer of funds, everyone was detained.
Was familiar with Kholodnitsky’s “purse”
In the statement about the crime and in the first testimony to the detectives, Shevchenko said that the bribe was intended for NABU employees, although the detective cannot close the criminal proceedings or transfer them to another body.
But Shevchenko believes that the interlocutor understood from the very beginning that money was for the leadership.
– Ilyashenko knew that the unlawful benefit was intended for the leadership of NABU and SAPO … We talked 100% about Kholodnitsky. The bribe was not offered to me, because I do not decide anything. Ilyashenko offered this bribe to Kholodnitsky and Sytnik.
In the end, the witness admits that he himself said that the decision would be made personally by Kholodnitsky. Ilyashenko was not at all interested in who would sign the decree.
– The detectives told me to inform Ilyashenko that Kholodnitsky would close the case.– recalls the accuser.
In addition, one of the detectives advised “to say about Venediktova, if she comes up.”
Shevchenko emphasizes that the name Kholodnitsky really sounded. At the meeting, Mazurova called Kholodnitsky “a Hutsul mafia”.
The “freelance agent of NABU” did not have friendly relations with the then head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office.
In 2018, Kholodnitsky called Shevchenko a fraudster. The SAP spread a statement that bribery is successful in NABU, and Shevchenko is collecting money for the head of the Sytnyk Bureau as his authorized representative.
Yevgeny Shevchenko about the bribe in the Zlochevsky case
But Shevchenko says it was the other way around.
– (Kholodnitsky) found out what I know about his corruption. I know who collected money for Kholodnitsky within the framework of certain criminal proceedings … I consider him a corrupt monster. Started selling cases from the very first…
Answering questions from lawyers, Shevchenko admits that the temptation was great for him too.
– Through an intermediary, I was familiar with the so-called Kholodnitsky wallet – a man who collected bribes. I asked this person if there was any way to solve this issue, and she said that it was possible for a million dollars. Then I thought about how, perhaps, to give the intermediary a million dollars and let him solve this issue, and keep four for myself.
Shevchenko admits that he wondered if it would be possible to document Kholodnytsky himself, of whose corruption he was convinced.
– Technical difficulties arose in order to document Kholodnitsky as well – how to hunt for two birds with one stone at the same time … Who will exercise procedural control over Kholodnitsky ?! In two other cases of bribery – the Odessa plant Krayan, Babenko, Dubovoy and Trukhanov – they offered me 500 thousand dollars and the case of Alperin, who offered 800 thousand dollars. We then turned to the GPU for procedural control and it ended with Alperin, with whom we had 6 or 7 meetings under the NSRD … When he left for Odessa for money, everything ended with his intermediaries coming out to the leadership of NABU and saying that we know that Evgeny cooperates with you and all meetings are documented. That is, there are already examples that the GPU cannot be trusted.
Now, if the defendants in this case are convicted, Shevchenko will receive a legal reward as an accuser – 10% of the amount of the bribe.
However, he assures that although the reward is significant, he really acted out of intolerance for corruption and civic duty. In particular, he hoped that in the event of a guilty verdict, the state would confiscate Zlochevsky’s Burisma company.
– I got the idea that Zlochevsky illegally acquired these assets. As Minister of Ecology, he had the opportunity to fully control all tenders for production and licenses for new gas fields.
On the day the suspects were detained, Shevchenko announced on his Facebook page that he had finished working with NABU. But he clarifies that he never officially worked there. Given this background, I realized that no one would offer him money. And secondly, he was morally exhausted. “I was tired of cooperating with NABU at that time, but in the morning I changed my mind,” the accuser says.
Earlier, Shevchenko wrote on his Facebook that this case was the result of his three-year development of criminal elements among top officials of the tax service and the Ministry of Ecology. But the court says that it all started only on June 1, 2020, when Ilyashenko wrote to him. Before that, he knew nothing about the case, and in his Facebook post, he simply embellished the situation.
At the hearing, Shevchenko said that he is now completing his book and, possibly, a film will be made with Netflix.
Irina Saliy, translation Skeleton.Info
