PG Kostin resigns following Zelenskyy's NSDC meeting on corruption in prosecutor's offices
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) on corruption in medical-social expert commissions tasked with assigning disability statuses. After the meeting Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin announced his resignation.
During the NSDC meeting, the situation within the prosecutor's office was discussed separately, with the Prosecutor General reporting.
Following the meeting, Zelenskyy noted that there should also be political responsibility for Kostin regarding the situation in the prosecutor's office.
Just 12 minutes after Zelenskyy's post, Kostin announced his resignation.
Kostin stated that investigations and criminal proceedings are currently underway at all levels in the state, and "many shameful facts of abuse" have been uncovered within the prosecutor's system.
"I fully agree with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's position that not only should all unlawful decisions regarding the granting of disability statuses, corresponding pension payments, and other benefits be canceled, but there should also be clear legislative and organizational changes, as well as personal responsibility, including political responsibility," Kostin wrote.
Kostin, a member of the Servant of the People party, had held the position of Prosecutor General since July 28, 2022. His predecessor, Iryna Venediktova, was appointed as the ambassador to Switzerland after her dismissal.
Earlier, on October 16, journalist Yuriy Butusov published an investigation claiming that almost all prosecutors in Khmelnytskyi Oblast were found to be second-degree disabled, according to a decision by the chief doctor of the Medical-Social Expert Commission, Tetiana Krupa, who was previously arrested on suspicion of illegal enrichment.
Butusov compiled a list of prosecutors with disabilities from the Khmelnytskyi prosecutor's office, which he stated was not exhaustive. The list included 49 individuals, among them the Khmelnytskyi regional prosecutor Oleksiy Oliynyk and his wife Iryna, who worked in the department until 2024.
On the same day, the Prosecutor General signed an order to conduct an internal investigation, and on October 17, Oliynyk was dismissed from his position as the head of the Khmelnytskyi regional prosecutor's office.