The Specialized Anti-corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) has opened a criminal case against former Prosecutor General Ruslan Riaboshapka.
"There was a ruling by the High Anti-Corruption Court, which we complied with, and we entered information into the Unified Register of Pretrial Investigations according to preliminary qualification of Article 366-1 (declaring false information) and Part 4 of Article 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (accepting an offer, promise or receiving a bribe by official)," as reported by SAPO's press service.
The prosecutor's office said the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) would conduct a pretrial investigation.
In a comment on LB.ua, Riaboshapka said he had learnt about the criminal case a few days before.
"I know as much as you know. That there was a court decision and SAPO was obliged to open the case. At first, they refused, but later they were ordered by the court. This is a routine procedure," he said.
Riaboshapka also said he had not seen a statement by a former prosecutor of the Prosecutor General's Office, upon which the proceedings were opened. When asked about his whereabouts, Riaboshapka said he was outside Ukraine, with his family in Strasbourg (France).
As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukrainian parliamentarians on March 5 voted in favor of a motion of no confidence in the country's Prosecutor General Ruslan Riaboshapka.
