Corruption accusations continue to plague top Zelenskiy aides

[libertybele]

Corruption accusations continue to plague top Zelenskiy aides

VIENNA/KYIV, Sept 19 (Reuters) - In his years as the chief executive of one of Ukraine's biggest construction firms, Oleh Maiboroda kept rolls of dollar bills in a safe behind his desk.

The money, Maiboroda told Reuters, was intended to bribe public officials to approve building projects. The task of handing over the cash, he said, was entrusted to a lawyer named Oleh Tatarov, now a senior adviser to Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

"Tatarov used to solve all issues with law enforcement," Maiboroda said in an interview in Vienna, where he has settled to escape prosecution in Ukraine for his own alleged role in corruption schemes involving the construction firm, Ukrbud Development LLC.

Maiboroda said bribes flowed through Tatarov from 2014 to 2019. The lawyer's contacts with police, courts and prosecutors made him a perfect go-between. "Of course he was paying" to smooth projects with authorities, including by securing building permits, Maiboroda said. "He was giving them money so these arrangements were done," he added.

Maiboroda's remarks threaten to reignite a controversy that has plagued President Volodymyr Zelenskiy even in wartime: accusations by political opponents and anti-corruption campaigners that powerful people have shielded Tatarov from prosecution.

Maiboroda provided no proof of his accusations. They echo an allegation against Tatarov, levelled by Ukraine's anti-corruption agencies, that he organised a bribe. Prosecutors closed the case in April 2022 on procedural grounds.

Tatarov, the president's adviser on law enforcement and security agencies since 2020, has denied wrongdoing and has been convicted of no crime. He has said his accusers are trying to settle political scores. Zelenskiy has previously said corruption has no place in his administration. "I want to emphasise: if those who work with me are suspected of corruption, these people will be fired. And I have not yet seen such examples in my Office," he said in an interview in December 2020 with Ukraine's Focus magazine.

Neither Zelenskiy nor Tatarov responded to detailed questions for this article.................

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/graft-accusations-dog-top-zelenskiy-aides-2023-09-19/

[PeteS in CA]

From the OP article:

Maiboroda said bribes flowed through Tatarov from 2014 to 2019.

  Guess what year Zelenskyy became President of Ukraine. 2019.



Gotcha Fail. Fact-checking time, less than 1 minute.

[Kamaji]

Zelensky's commitment to fighting corruption is pretty strong, given that his country is currently fighting for its life against the Russian Orc.

[libertybele]

From the OP article:

  Guess what year Zelenskyy became President of Ukraine. 2019.



Gotcha Fail. Fact-checking time, less than 1 minute.

No, not quite....

Zelenskiy appointed Tatarov to advise on law enforcement and security agencies in August 2020. Zelenskiy said it would be unfair to cast all officials who worked under Yanukovych as representatives of the old guard. "The main thing is that a person is honest," Zelenskiy told reporters several days after Tatarov's appointment.

Soon afterwards, NABU, an independent agency, opened an investigation into Tatarov on suspicion he arranged to bribe an Interior Ministry official in 2017 on behalf of Ukrbud Development..............

Yes, perhaps Tatarov was dirty long before, BUT Z did appoint Tatarov in 2020.

[Kamaji]

No, not quite....

Zelenskiy appointed Tatarov to advise on law enforcement and security agencies in August 2020. Zelenskiy said it would be unfair to cast all officials who worked under Yanukovych as representatives of the old guard. "The main thing is that a person is honest," Zelenskiy told reporters several days after Tatarov's appointment.

Soon afterwards, NABU, an independent agency, opened an investigation into Tatarov on suspicion he arranged to bribe an Interior Ministry official in 2017 on behalf of Ukrbud Development..............

Yes, perhaps Tatarov was dirty long before, BUT Z did appoint Tatarov in 2020.

Gawrsh, let's charge Zelenskyy with omniscience and mind-reading, and assume - without any basis whatsoever - that he knew that Tatarov was dirty when he appointed him, even though nobody else who was not an omniscient god would have known that fact.



What that little anecdote demonstrates is not that Zelenskyy is corrupt, but that he is fair-minded, and is not going to tar everyone with the same brush absent evidence of individualized malfeasance.

180 degrees from your attempt at character assassination.