Kyiv’s Solomyansky Court on April 22 released Mykola Martynenko, a former lawmaker from the People’s Front party and one of the top allies of ex-Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, without bail.
Prosecutors were asking the court to arrest and jail the suspect on Hr 300 million ($11.2 million) bail.
The court also ordered Martynenko to surrender documents that allow him to travel abroad. Prosecutors are planning to appeal the court’s ruling to release Martynenko without bail.
The court hearings regarding his pre-trial detention demonstrated the strength of the former lawmaker’s political influence and support in the highest echelons of power, despite his resignation from the parliament in 2015 after he had been targeted by several graft investigations.
Some 21 people offered to vouch for Martynenko to get him out or supported him, including 17 lawmakers from People’s Front faction in the parliament and three ministers that are also close to People’s Front party. Among them were Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan, Education Minister Lilia Hrynevych and Sports Minister Ihor Zhdanov and People’s Front lawmakers Maksym Polyakov, Heorhiy Lohvynsky, Vitaliy Korchyk, Mykola Knyazhytsky, Pavlo Pynzenyk, Olena Ledovskykh, Vadym Pidbereznyak, Andriy Teteruk, Fedir Bendyuzhenko, Olena Masorina, Olena Boyko, Viktor Yelensky, Leonid Yemets, Hennadiy Kryvosheya, Vitaliy Stashuk, Khvicha Meparishvili and Vadym Kryvenko. Deputy head of the Central Election Commission Andriy Mahera was also on the list.
Prior to the court’s ruling today, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine accused People’s Front lawmakers of pressuring the court, citing verbal threats to the presiding judge by some lawmakers during the hearing. In response, the People’s Front party said in today’s statement that it is the NABU that is exerting pressure on judges.
Martynenko is alleged to be the main cash cow for Yatsenyuk and the People’s Front. However, Yatsenyuk did not step in to vouch for Martynenko.
The NABU on April 20 arrested Martynenko and charged him with organized crime and embezzling $17 million during uranium ore sales to the state-owned Eastern Ore Dressing Plant. According to the bureau, Austria’s Steuermann Investitions und Handelsgesellschaft, which is allegedly controlled by Martynenko, was selling during 2013-2016 Kazakh uranium ore at a huge profit to the Eastern Ore Dressing Plant, which sells uranium to Ukraine’s state nuclear power monopoly Energoatom. If found guilty, Martynenko faces up to 12 years in jail.
Martynenko denied any wrongdoing calling the charges politically motivated and that “the case is falsified,” but added he “does not know what are the political motives.”
During the court hearing on 22 April Martynenko said he is not and has never been a founder or beneficiary of Steuermann Investitions und Handelsgesellschaft and has never controlled the company.
During the hearing yesterday and today he remained calm, exerting confidence and said he does not plan to leave the country and ask for asylum abroad.
Ukrainian, Swiss and Czech authorities have also been investigating Martynenko on suspicion that he accepted 30 million Swiss francs from Czech engineering firm Skoda to give it a contract to supply equipment to Energoatom. The ex-lawmaker denied these accusations.
Martynenko has been an associate of President Petro Poroshenko since they were both part of ex-President Viktor Yushchenko’s inner circle in the 2000s. Martynenko and Poroshenko also used to be business partners.
