Pronin must go – a rally is underway outside parliamentary committees demanding the resignation of the head of the State Financial Monitoring Service.
A rally is taking place outside the parliamentary committee building, where a meeting of the temporary investigative commission investigating the Mindichgate case is taking place, demanding the resignation of State Financial Monitoring Service head Philipp Pronin.
People are holding signs with the following slogans: “Pronin, who stole 200 million from fortifications?”, “Pronin is behind Yermak,” “Why are my brothers in unfinished trenches?”, “Pronin is selling sanctions to the National Security and Defense Council.”
Nina Yuzhanina, a member of parliament from the European Solidarity faction who joined the protesters, emphasized that Filip Pronin cannot continue to head the State Financial Monitoring Service, as the agency, under his leadership, failed to notice how Mindich’s group siphoned off millions of hryvnias stolen from the state.
“The State Financial Monitoring Service, unlike even the National Bank, can monitor all transactions of business entities. So, they worked so hard that for nine or ten months of this year, not a single transaction raised any suspicions. This operation gave this organized crime group the opportunity to launder money, convert it into cryptocurrency, and the cash that was found,” the deputy emphasized.
“How can someone remain in their position amid such investigations, with such information, and even with such a background? It really baffles me,” she noted.
“It’s also surprising why he even ended up in this position as head of the financial intelligence service,” Yuzhanina said.
The deputy noted that Pronin previously served as the head of the Poltava Regional Military Administration, and during that period, 200 million hryvnias were embezzled from the regional budget for the construction of fortifications.
“The ongoing investigation in Poltava into the 200 million hryvnia cost overrun on the fortifications may have played a role. He’s someone we know, someone who needs to be protected, someone who’s willing to be cleared of any wrongdoing and to carry out any task assigned to him. I see no other reason or justification for his promotion to such a high-ranking position,” Yuzhanina noted.
Deputy She added: “I haven’t met a single person who could tell me they’re a specialist or whether they’re performing certain tasks correctly or properly. And, by the way, most of the employees who’ve worked at Gosfinmon for decades and are very knowledgeable about their work have quit. Such professionals don’t want to work for him.”
“A legally registered resolution, signed by members of our faction and other factions, proposes his resignation to the Cabinet of Ministers. This decision must be made by the Cabinet of Ministers,” noted the European Solidarity representative.
At the same time, the deputy noted that at the last parliamentary session, during government question hour, Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko said she saw no grounds for Pronin’s dismissal.
“Therefore, I conclude that if she can’t see it, many will now be covering for each other. But I want to say that everyone is definitely a silent participant, because even covering for someone as irresponsible as Pronin means they want to act together,” Yuzhanina said.
As a reminder, MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak reported on September 3 that the fortifications erected by the Poltava Regional Military Administration (OVA) did not meet requirements and that their construction could have been at least 200 million hryvnias over budget. On October 21, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau conducted searches of individuals and companies close to Pronin, implicated in the embezzlement case related to the fortifications’ construction. These include Pronin’s first deputy at the State Financial Monitoring Service, Bohdan Korolchuk (who served as Pronin’s first deputy during his tenure as chairman of the Poltava Regional Military Administration), the contractor, Enki Construction LLC, and officials at various levels of the Poltava Regional Military Administration. Zheleznyak appealed to Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko to recall Pronin from his endless business trips.