Former Ukrenergo head Kudrytskyi’s home, phone searched by law enforcement
Volodymyr Kudrytskyi (Photo: Volodymyr Kudrytskyi / Facebook)
Before a formal search of his home, agents from the State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) seized the phone of Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, the former chairman of Ukraine’s national power grid operator Ukrenergo, Kudrytskyi told Ukrainska Pravda on Oct. 21.
Kudrytskyi said that he first learned from news reports that he had been charged with corruption.
“No charges were ever handed to me,” he said. “There was just a search.”
According to Kudrytskyi, police officers stopped his vehicle to inspect documents in the morning on Oct. 21. The officers asked to see his military registration via the Reserve+ app on his phone. When he unlocked the device, an officer grabbed it and ran away. Shortly afterwards, SBI investigators arrived and took possession of the unlocked phone. Kudrytskyi stated his phone was seized without a court warrant.
Later that day, SBI agents returned to search his home, this time with a warrant. The bureau said the searches are part of a criminal investigation into possible abuse of office and embezzlement of state funds. Kudrytskyi denies the allegations.
He believes investigators were more interested in accessing his private messages, for whatever reason.
“I noticed law enforcement activity ramped up whenever I appeared in public,” he said, referring to a recently announced project on distributed power generation that boosted his media profile.
“I don’t see this as procedural necessity so much as a message someone wanted to send me,” Kudrytskyi suggested.
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