Today's corruption cases against top officials are only the beginning, - Oleksiy Sukhachov
Today's corruption cases against top officials are just the beginning. The SBI's high-profile cases are the result of the Bureau's systematic work over a long period of time.
The Bureau has only recently begun to inform the public about its efforts to combat top-level corruption. However, this work continued even after russia's full-fledged aggression began. The Bureau never forgot that corruption is a threat to Ukraine just as much as russia.
Of course, the Russian Federation's aggression against Ukraine has forced significant changes in the SBI's work. After all, crimes against national security and the documentation of war crimes in russia have risen to the top of the agency's priority list. This created an illusion of permissiveness among our performers - primarily officials and law enforcement officers, who decided that "the war will write off everything."
As Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated recently, "I want this to be our signal to everyone whose actions or behavior violate the principle of justice."
There is also a long-standing and clearly defined demand in society for justice and a rejection of corruption at all levels of government.
To date, the State Bureau of Investigation and other law enforcement agencies have carried out a number of activities in criminal proceedings involving high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Defense, the Tax Service, and other ministries and agencies.
That's not all. Many more intriguing materials are in the works for our investigators and operatives. The days of robbing the state and undermining its combat readiness with impunity are long gone, and have been for a long time. The sooner someone realizes this, the better.
There is only one way forward now: work for Victory and for the sake of Victory. The greater the country's power, the faster the wounds of war will heal after victory.
Continued later.
Oleksii Sukhachov, Director of the State Bureau of Investigation