SAPO opens case over previous Cabinet's failure to restrict medical means exports

The Special Anti-corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) of Ukraine says a criminal proceeding has been registered to probe the alleged grave negligence by former Cabinet employees, who in January-February 2020 failed to take measures to restrict exports and re-exports of medical products, face masks, gloves, and gowns required as part of epidemiological measures amid the coronavirus spread.

Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine, Oleksiy Danilov, had sent two letters to the-then Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk, demanding that such exports be restricted, SAPO press service wrote on Facebook on March 23, adding that the criminal proceeding was registered by its chief Nazar Kholodnytsky.

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Ukraine's State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) will be carrying out pre-trial investigation.

The proceeding was initiated following a report published in one of Ukraine's online media outlet, the press service said.