The Ukrainian police carried out a search on Wednesday at the home of former Interior Minister Arsen Avakom, in connection with the investigation that is being followed into the fatal accident suffered by the helicopter in which the leadership of the current ministry was traveling.
The helicopter crashed on January 18 in the kyiv region and 14 people died in the accident, including the head of the Interior, Denys Monastyrsky; his first deputy, Yevhen Yenin, and the Secretary of State for the Interior, Yuriy Lubkovych.
According to Ukrainian outlet Babel, Avakov, who resigned in 2021 after a long, scandal-plagued tenure, confirmed that his home was being searched as part of the investigation into the helicopter crash that killed his successor.
Avakov added that investigators apparently searched his home for various contracts made by him over six years with the French company Airbus, which manufactured the “H-225 Super Puma” helicopter that was used to transport officials when the accident occurred. says Babel.
According to the former minister, the investigators found “nothing” suspicious since, he said, the government and parliament had approved the processing of these contracts before they entered into force.
Technicians from the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) also searched the houses of other officials who participated in the purchase of the French helicopters, Babel reported, citing official sources who requested anonymity.
Preliminary results of the ongoing investigation into the helicopter crash in Brovary, on the outskirts of kyiv, have not yet been made public.
Fedir Venislavskyi, representative in the parliament of the president of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelenski, explained on January 21 that the first results could be announced in “the near future”, without specifying the date, recalled the local media. The Ukrainian Air Force then clarified that the investigation would take time due to its complexity.
For its part, the SBU said that the possible causes of the accident could be a violation of flight safety rules, a technical malfunction of the helicopter or intentional actions to destroy the aircraft.
The Interior Ministry created a special commission to investigate the cause of the accident and was ordered to submit a report on it before February 18.
Babel also reported today, citing official sources, the search that SBU officials carry out at the home of businessman Ihor Kolomoiskyi.
These investigations are related to the alleged fraud committed by the businessman, one of the richest in Ukraine, in the activity of the Ukrtatnafta and Ukrnafta refineries.
The SBU is investigating the embezzlement of oil products from these companies worth 40 billion hryvnias (more than a billion dollars) and the evasion of customs duty payments.
The Zelenski government has launched a campaign in recent weeks to fight against corruption in the country in order to maintain the support of Western countries in its fight against the Russian invasion that has been going on for almost a year.
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