The High Anti-Corruption Court has confirmed that the full bail sum of 20 million hryvnias has been paid on behalf of Iryna Mudra, the former deputy head of the Office of the President. This was reported by «Interfax-Ukraine» on 8 October, citing the court. Payment of the bail enables her to be released from custody subject to conditions set by the court; however, the High Anti-Corruption Court has not confirmed that she has actually been released from the remand centre.
Briefly about the main points
- The court confirmed that the full amount had been credited to the deposit account.
- The precautionary measure, with the option of bail, was chosen on 25 August.
- The Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the court of first instance.
- Transfers were delayed due to checks carried out by banks as part of financial monitoring.
- The suspect denies any involvement in the alleged offences.
How the court determined the pre-trial measure
On 25 August, the High Anti-Corruption Court elected Mudriy detention for a period of 60 days, with bail as an alternative. The prosecutor from the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office requested that bail be set at 150 million hryvnias, but the court set a lower amount.
2 September, the Court of Appeal WAX left the pre-trial measure unchanged. Subsequently, the defence requested a reduction in the bail amount, but the court did not grant this application.
Why has the money transfer been delayed?
Lawyers Mudroi They claimed to have raised the necessary funds, but the banks refused to transfer them to the court’s deposit account. On 24 September, the High Anti-Corruption Court ordered the National Bank to investigate these refusals; according to the defence, the payments were not processed by 15 financial institutions.
The NBU explained that banks might have questions regarding documentary evidence of the origin of funds, the use of cash, the allocation of payments and possible transactions via shell companies. The regulator emphasised that it had not instructed banks to automatically block the provision of collateral: each institution assesses transactions independently in accordance with financial monitoring legislation.
On 28 September, 13 million hryvnias were paid into the court’s account. The defence requested that the total amount be reduced to the level already paid, but the High Anti-Corruption Court left the existing ruling unchanged.
In which legal proceedings does Mudra feature?
Mudra is implicated in criminal proceedings linked to the «Forest Gump» and «Themis» anti-corruption operations. In August, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) announced that they had uncovered an alleged criminal organisation which, according to the investigation, included high-ranking officials from the Office of the President, as well as former and current members of parliament.
Investigators believe that members of the group may have taken control of two companies with assets worth 248 million hryvnias, and also attempted to gain control of property in the centre of Kyiv worth over 500 million hryvnias. A separate episode concerns the alleged laundering of 150 million hryvnias to be used as security in the «Midas» case.
Mudra denied any involvement in the alleged offences and stated in court that the investigators had used certain private conversations to substantiate her alleged role. On 19 August, the President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed her from her post as deputy head of the President’s Office.
What obligations will apply following dismissal?
Following his release on bail, Mudra must appear when summoned by detectives and prosecutors, must not leave Kyiv or the Kyiv region without permission, and must refrain from contacting witnesses and victims involved in the case.
The payment of the bail does not remove the suspicion or bring the pre-trial investigation to an end. The statement from the High Anti-Corruption Court relates to the acceptance of the bail and does not contain separate confirmation that the former official has in fact been released from the remand centre.
