Ex-head of Ukraine's State Fiscal Service (SFS) Roman Nasirov says "he will do his best to become president."
"Every day I think about it more and more ... I've even started preparations for this. I'm encouraged by friends, advisers. I think that's probably so ... I will do everything to become president," Nasirov told Channel 112 Ukraine on July 29.
He also says he thinks he could "find a common language" with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is also fond of judo. "It is always necessary to find a common language," he said.
Also, Nasirov says he has only one passport – the Ukrainian one, although he would like to receive citizenship of other countries: "Ukrainian citizenship, that's all. They claim I have British, Hungarian, Israeli citizenship. "Unfortunately, I have none of them, but I would like to...," he said.
Read alsoUkraine tax chief Nasirov fired amid embezzlement probe – media
He also noted he was wearing an ankle monitor as a suspect in a case related to abuse of office.
Asked a question from a journalist whether Nasirov could be jailed, he answered: "Certainly not. There is nothing [to be jailed for]."
As UNIAN reported, prosecutors from the Special Anti-corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) on November 10, 2017, filed an indictment against Nasirov and his subordinate, the head of the SFS debt repayment department, Volodymyr Novikov.
Nasirov is accused of abuse of power or official position and official forgery –under Articles 364 and 366 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. His subordinate is charged with committing crimes under Part 5 of Article 27 (complicity) and Part 2 of Article 364 (abuse of power or official position).
Investigators insist Nasirov, acting in the interests of Member of Parliament Oleksandr Onyshchenko, initiated unsubstantiated installment of the tax debt to three companies in 2015-2016, which caused almost UAH 2 billion in budget losses. The Cabinet of Ministers on March 3, 2017, suspended Nasirov during the investigation, and on January 31, 2018, he was dismissed from his post.
