
Ukraine conducts widespread searches, arrests of anti-corruption officials
The SBU security body said it had arrested one official at the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine as a suspected Russian spy and another over suspected business ties to Russia. Other NABU officials had ties to a fugitive Ukrainian politician's banned party, the SBU said.
But NABU, which has embarrassed senior government officials with corruption allegations, said the crackdown went beyond state security issues to cover unrelated allegations such as years-old traffic accidents.
Anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International said the searches showed that the authorities were exerting "massive pressure" on Ukraine's corruption fighters.
NABU said at least 70 searches had been conducted by various Ukrainian law enforcement and security agencies in connection with 15 of its employees, and that these had taken place without the approval of a court.
"In the vast majority of cases, the grounds for these actions are the involvement of individuals in road traffic accidents," the statement said, although it also added that some of the cases were about links to Russia.
Although the risk of Russian infiltration "remained relevant," this could not be a justification to "halt the work of the entire institution", NABU said in a statement.
Anti-corruption campaigners have been alarmed since Vitaliy Shabunin, a top anti-corruption activist, was charged earlier this month with fraud and evading military service.
Shabunin and his allies have cast those charges as politically motivated retribution from President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's office for exposing corrupt officials. On Monday, Shabunin condemned the searches of NABU personnel.
Zelenskiy's office denies that prosecutions in Ukraine are politically motivated.
The SBU said it had arrested a mole working for Russian intelligence inside NABU, who had passed information to his handler on at least 60 occasions. Separately, it had detained a senior NABU detective on suspicion of acting as an intermediary in his father's sales of industrial hemp to Russia.
A third SBU statement said some senior NABU officials had ties to lawmaker Fedir Khrystenko, believed to have fled Ukraine after the Russian invasion in 2022.
A separate law enforcement body, the State Bureau of Investigations, said it had served suspicion notices to three NABU employees for road accidents that had resulted in injuries. NABU said the road traffic accident cases were between two and four years old.
Transparency International said conducting the searches without court orders "demonstrates the massive nature of the pressure by the SBU and (Prosecutor General's Office) on anti-corruption law enforcement agencies".
It called on Zelenskiy to guarantee the independence of Ukraine's anti-corruption bodies.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Independent
17 minutes ago
- The Independent
Ex-UK Labour leader Corbyn says he's starting a new left-wing party
Former British Labour Party leader Jermy Corbyn said Thursday he is forming a new left-leaning political party to advocate "mass redistribution of wealth and power' and take on his former colleagues at the ballot box. The new formation has a website — — but does not yet have a name. 'It's your party,' Corbyn said. 'We're going to decide (a name) when we've had all the responses, and so far the response rate has been massive.' Corbyn said he hoped the new party would have its inaugural conference in the fall. Corbyn, 76, led Labour to election defeats in 2017 and 2019, but the veteran socialist campaigner remains popular with many grassroots supporters. and the new party has the potential to further fragment British politics. The long-dominant Labour and Conservative parties now have challengers on both left and right, including the environmentalist Green Party and hard-right Reform UK. Plans for a new party emerged earlier this month when lawmaker Zarah Sultana, who has been suspended from Labour for voting against the government, said she would 'co-lead the founding of a new party' with Corbyn. At the time, Corbyn did not confirm the news. On Thursday he denied the party launch had been messy, saying the process was "democratic, it's grassroots and it's open." A longtime supporter of the Palestinians and critic of Israel, Corbyn was suspended from Labour in 2020 after Britain's equalities watchdog found anti-Jewish prejudice had been allowed to spread within Labour while he was leader. He was suspended after failing to fully accept the findings¸ claiming opponents had exaggerated the scale of antisemitism in Labour for 'political reasons.' Corbyn was reelected to Parliament last year as an independent. Prime Minister Keir Starmer succeeded Corbyn as Labour leader in 2020 and dragged the party back toward the political center ground. He dropped Corbyn's opposition to Britain's nuclear weapons, strongly backed sending weapons to Ukraine and stressed the party's commitment to balancing the books. Starmer won a landslide election victory a year ago, but has struggled to maintain unity among Labour lawmakers as the government struggles to get a sluggish economy growing and invest in overstretched public services. He has been forced into a series of U-turns by his own lawmakers, including one on welfare reform that left his authority severely dented.


Reuters
18 minutes ago
- Reuters
Ineos-Grenadiers says soigneur has left Tour amid 2012 doping questioning
COURCHEVEL, France, July 24 (Reuters) - A team soigneur, or carer, for Ineos Grenadiers has left the Tour de France after being asked to speak to the International Testing Agency (ITA) over allegations relating to the 2012 season, the British team said on Thursday. "Following recent media allegations, David (Rozman) has now received a request from the ITA to attend an interview. Accordingly, he has stepped back from race duties and has left the Tour," Ineos Grenadiers said, adding the team had not been presented with formal evidence or asked to participate in any inquiry. The ITA declined to comment and Rozman did not answer phone calls. Rozman was reported by the Irish Independent earlier this month to have exchanged messages in 2012 with a doctor linked to the Operation Aderlass doping scandal that shook the sporting world in 2019. German broadcaster ARD also last month reported exchanges involving Ineos, but did not name Rozman. Operation Aderlass involved a German physician Mark Schmidt, who had been giving illegal blood transfusions to athletes from various disciplines including cycling. Schmidt was later convicted and sentenced in 2021 to four years and 10 months in prison for administering illegal blood transfusions. The 2012 Tour de France was won by Britain's Bradley Wiggins with the team, then known as Team Sky. His former teammate Chris Froome went on to win another four Tour titles for the team. Soigneurs typically look after the cyclists, provide massages and carry out a host of other jobs for the team. Ineos said in its statement that it had commissioned an inquiry by an external law firm after Rozman informed the team of a first meeting with the ITA earlier this year. "Team member David Rozman was informally contacted in April 2025 by a member of ITA staff, who asked him about alleged historical communications," it said. "Although the ITA assured David at the time that he was not under investigation, Ineos promptly commissioned a thorough review by an external law firm," it said, without elaborating.


Daily Mail
18 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Dozens of Jewish children are removed from flight for being 'unruly' with summer camp teacher arrested - as airline denies anti-semitism claims
The expulsion of dozens of teenage passengers from a jet in Spain amid reports they were endangering the safety of the flight has sparked a row, with the carrier coming under fire for alleged anti-Semitism. Some 44 French-Jewish students aged between 10 and 15 and several adults were escorted off Vueling flight V8166 as it waited on the tarmac at Valencia airport yesterday ahead of its return to Paris. Footage shared to social media appeared to show one adult member of the group being detained by Spanish civil guard officers in the walkway shortly after she was removed from the jet. It was later revealed that the passengers were members of the Kineret Club, a Jewish summer camp group, and were returning to France after a week-long excursion in Spain. A statement released by the club alleged that the captain of the flight ordered the removal of the group 'without a valid explanation', adding: 'The use of a few words in Hebrew was clearly enough to trigger an extremely serious, collective, humiliating, and discriminatory measure. 'No other circumstance could explain the treatment inflicted on this group of children.' The statement, signed by the club's lawyer Julie Jacob, went on to say it would launch a formal complaint and legal action, claiming that the passengers 'were seated, respecting the rules and the staff... they did not pose any disturbance to public order or flight safety'. This triggered outcry in Israel, with Minister of Diaspora Amichai Chikli accusing Vueling and Spanish law enforcement of antisemitism, saying the kids were removed after 'singing Hebrew songs on the plane' and accusing Vueling staff of declaring Israel a 'terrorist state', without providing evidence. In response, a Vueling spokesperson said the passengers were removed after the minors repeatedly tampered with the plane's emergency equipment and interrupted the crew's safety demonstration. 'A group of passengers engaged in highly disruptive behaviour and adopted a very confrontational attitude, putting at risk the safe conduct of the flight. 'We categorically deny any suggestion that our crew's behaviour was related to the religion of the passengers involved.' 'This group mishandled emergency equipment and actively disrupted the mandatory safety demonstration, repeatedly ignoring instructions from cabin crew. 'Despite multiple warnings, this inappropriate behaviour persisted, which forced the crew to activate established security protocols,' the statement read, adding that Spain's civil guard took the decision to remove the passengers after being notified by the captain. 'We categorically deny any suggestion that our crew's decision related to the religion of the passengers involved. This decision was taken solely to ensure the safety of all passengers,' it said. Spain's Civil Guard confirmed all the passengers removed from the plane were French nationals. A Civil Guard spokesperson said the agents involved in the removal operation and the arrest of one member of the party were not aware of the group's religious affiliation. The woman arrested following her removal from the aircraft was said to be one of the directors of the club, according to Israeli media, but that has not been confirmed. Vueling shared a lengthy statement rejecting allegations of anti-Semitism Club Kineret alleged in its statement that it had collected written statements from other passengers on the plane 'confirming that the children did not pose a threat to public order or flight safety'. It also said that the group was expelled from the flight 'without care, escort, accommodation or food'. The Civil Guard said 23 minors and two adults from the group boarded a flight belonging to another airline, while the rest spent Wednesday night at a hotel. A spokesperson said arrangements were being made for them to leave Valencia later on Thursday. The Federation for Jewish Communities of Spain today expressed concern about the incident, calling on Vueling to provide documentary evidence of what happened on the plane. 'The various accounts circulating on social media and in the media to which we have had access do not clarify the cause of the incident,' the organisation said.