Notice of suspicion served to Metzher
Police served the notice of suspicion to the senior executives of the Ukreximbank bank for obstruction to the professional activities of Skhemy’s journalists. This was reported on the website of the National Police.
"As of 9:55 a.m., both participants in the criminal proceedings for obstructing the work of “Skhemy”’s journalists were served with a notice of suspicion, as well as subpoena to the investigative authority for questioning," Nadiya Maksymets, a spokeswoman for the Kyiv City Prosecutor's Office , told Ukrayinska Pravda .
In particular, it was question of the head of Ukreximbank Yevhen Metzher.
According to the police, employees of the financial institution face a fine of 200 to 500 non-taxable minimum incomes or restriction of liberty for up to five years with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or conduct certain activities for up to three years or without such.
In addition, the investigators, together with the procedural supervisors, provide a legal assessment of the actions of a third party, the person who has been recorded on a video published by journalists. Based on the results of the inspection, an appropriate legal qualification.will be given to their actions.
Yevhen Metzher wrote on his Facebook page that he had received a suspicion from the prosecutor's office.
“Today at 9 a.m. law enforcement officers came to my house and handed me the document. Yesterday, for some reason, they came to the bank's premises, but I had no legal grounds to stay there after I signed my letter of resignation, ” he said, adding that he was ready to cooperate fully with the investigation.
As IMI reported, on October 4 in Kyiv, employees of the state-owned Ukreximbank used brute force against the film crew of "Skhemy" while recording an interview with the chairman of the financial institution Yevhen Metzher right in his office.
The Kyiv Police has initiated criminal proceedings for obstructing the professional activities of journalists of the “Schemes” program (Part 1 of Article 171 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
Ukreximbank accused “Skhemy” journalists of misappropriating information with limited access (banking secrecy) and violating the Code of Ethics for Ukrainian Journalists.
On October 4, journalists for “Skhemy”were summoned for questioning as victims to establish all the circumstances of the incident at Ukreximbank during a recording of an interview with Chairman of the Board Yevhen Metzher.
On October 4, the editorial board of "Skhemy" managed to restore the video deleted by Ukreximbank employees during the attack on the film crew in the office of the head of the state bank Yevhen Metzher.
On October 5, the Supervisory Board of Ukreximbank announced that it had begun investigating the circumstances of the conflict with “Schemy” journalists.
On October 6, Ukreximbank's Chairman of the Board Yevhen Metzher said he would step down from office during the police investigation and an internal bank investigation into the conflict with “Skhemy” journalists.
On October 6, Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova said that the Office of the Prosecutor General would not cover for the actions of employees of the state-owned Ukreximbank who attacked the TV crew of the "Skhemy" program. The person in charge will be notified of the suspicion.
On October 6, the Supervisory Board of Ukreximbank decided to suspend the Chairman of the Board of Ukreximbank Yevhen Metzher from the exercise of his powers for the duration of the internal investigation.
On October 6, police officers requalified the case on the grounds of a crime under Part 3 of Art. 171 of the Criminal code of Ukraine (Obstruction of lawful professional activity of journalists by an officer). The initial registration at the request of journalists was under Part 1 of Art. 171 (obstruction by denial of access, seizure of equipement, illegitimate ban to cover some issues and so on).
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