Detectives of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau should investigate the facts that indicate the abuse of power, corruption and interference with journalistic activity by the chairman of the National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting Yuriy Artemenko.
This is stated in an official appeal to the director of NABU Artem Sytnyk of the MPs from UKROP Taras Batenko, Iryna Konstankevych, Valentyn Didych, Oleksandr Dubinin, Vitaliy Kupriy, Oleksandr Shevchenko and Viktor Shevchenko.
The authors of the document refer to the information publicly available on the Internet at https://www.facebook.com/artemenko.leaks.
The officers should, in particular, investigate the correspondence of Yuriy Artemenko regarding a series of illegal searches in the premises of a nationwide provider “Triolan”, in agreement with the first deputy head of the State Fiscal Service Serhiy Bilan.
The information on threats to revoke a broadcasting license of ZIK TV channel also needs a legal assessment, according to the parliamentarians. This is confirmed by a correspondence in Viber messenger between Yuriy Artemenko and MP from the party “Petro Poroshenko Bloc” Hryhoriy Shverk.
“According to the information from the published screenshots of the correspondence of Y. Artemenko, the latter, using his official position, prompts the management of the largest Ukrainian media holding companies to write false letters of recommendation in favor of his son Denys Artemenko in order the US Government provides him with a green card for the right of permanent residence on territory of this state,” the statement says.
It is noteworthy that having an official salary of about 250 thousand hryvnias, a civil servant was interested in the purchase of expensive housing in Miami, USA, at a cost from 300 thousand dollars up to 600 thousand dollars.
Similarly, according to the published information, Yuriy Artemenko uses his official position to allocate budget funding for the creation of film production and lobby candidacies of close relatives for the lead roles in such films.
Artemenko legalizes illegally received funds through signing fictitious documents on the provision of information services. As an example, the parliamentarians give an agreement between PJSC “Radomyshl Beer and Soft Drinking Plant” and Yuriy Artemenko’s wife (private entrepreneur Artemenko Olena Mykolaivna), for which the latter has received 1.5 million hryvnias during the year.
The UKROP members also drew attention of the law-enforcers to systematic pressure in the form of groundless fines imposed on 112 and NewsOne TV channels, as well as on a number of radio stations.
“Abusing his official position, Artemenko regularly works on creating additional obstacles and difficulties in the work of TV channels, radio stations and providers,” the MPs emphasized.
The materials published on the Internet also testify that Artemenko has organized campaign for discrediting the television series “Swaty” (Co-parents-in-law), a wholly Ukrainian product. The UKROP members said that by his actions the chairman of the National Council had caused significant financial damage to the developers of the series and threatened a large number of employees involved in filming with dismissal.
