Prosecutor General's Office opens proceedings against MP Dubinsky

The Prosecutor General's Office has opened proceedings against Oleksandr Dubinsky, an MP from the Servant of the People faction, regarding the legalization of criminally obtained property and non-payment of taxes according to a statement filed by Ukraine's Anti-Corruption Action Center.

According to Ukrinform, the relevant documents have been published by the Anti-Corruption Action Center.

"The Prosecutor General's Office has opened proceedings against Oleksandr Dubinsky, a people's deputy from the Servant of the People party. Earlier, the Anti-Corruption Action Center appealed to the PGO with a crime statement against Dubinsky. At first, the Prosecutor General's Office refused to investigate Dubinsky's alleged crimes. However, Kyiv's Pechersky District Court ordered the inclusion of information in the single register of pretrial investigations and the launch of an investigation, "the center said.

According to the notice on the launch of the pretrial investigation, the Prosecutor General's Office entered information into the single register of pretrial investigations on the basis of a Pechersky District Court ruling, in accordance with the facts mentioned in the statement, and initiated two criminal proceedings under Part 1 of Article 212 and Part 1 of Article 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

The articles concern tax evasion, fees (mandatory payments) and legalization (laundering) of property obtained by criminal means.

On January 11, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) took additional action against seven individuals and four entities that are part of a "Russia-linked foreign influence network" associated with Andrii Derkach.

U.S. sanctions have been imposed on former Ukrainian government officials Kostiantyn Kulyk, Oleksandr Onyshchenko, Andriy Telizhenko, and current Ukrainian MP Oleksandr Dubinsky, who released the so-called "Derkach's tapes."

In addition, the "blacklist" includes members of Derkach's team - Petro Zhuravel, Dmytro Kovalchuk and Anton Symonenko. Restrictions have also been imposed against NabuLeaks, Era-Media TOV, Only News and Skeptik TOV.

In May 2020, MP Andrii Derkach released audio recordings that may indicate the alleged influence of former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. The recordings date back to 2015-2016. According to Derkach, he received the "tapes" from investigative journalists, and Poroshenko personally recorded the conversations.

On September 10, 2020, the U.S. Department of the Treasury designated four Russia-linked individuals, including Derkach, for attempting to influence the U.S. electoral process.

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