Poroshenko's lawyer to SBI director: Poroshenko
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Ex-president of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko is a witness in two criminal probes conducted by the State Bureau of Investigation, therefore this means no charges have been brought against him, according to his lawyer Ihor Golovan. In response to a Tuesday statement by SBI Director Roman Truba, who claimed that the fifth president is allegedly targeted in 11 criminal cases, the lawyer wrote in his blog on Ukrayinska Pravda: "But how exactly is Petro Poroshenko supposed to be aware of those proceedings when Mr Truba's subordinates provide no relevant information to lawyers, referring to the fact that we do not have the status of defense counsels. Indeed, it's no surprise because our client is not in a status of a suspect in any of those proceedings." Golovan explained that as of Tuesday, he was only aware that Poroshenko was a witness in two criminal cases.

"It is unlikely that anyone can say that the criminal proceedings are initiated against a witness," the lawyer said. As UNIAN reported earlier, on May 23, Roman Truba said that the Bureau was looking into a statement by ex-deputy head of the administration of former President Viktor Yanukovych, Andriy Portnov, claiming Poroshenko had committed economic crimes related to Kuznia na Rybalskomy factory. On July 11, SBI spox Anzhelika Ivanova reported that Poroshenko had been summoned for questioning for July 17. On July 17, the ex-president did not report for questioning as a witness in the case of possible tax evasion and laundering of criminal proceeds in the sale of the factory. Truba reported that Poroshenko’s lawyers contacted the SBI and explained that the ex-president was unable to come in for questioning due to his parliament campaign schedule. On July 24, Poroshenko visited the State Bureau of Investigation and asked Roman Truba that the questioning be postponed. Truba recommended that the ex-president contact the detectives directly. On July 25, Poroshenko appealed to the SBI with a request to postpone the questioning. On July 30, Truba said 11 criminal proceedings had been opened against ex-president of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko. Earlier, the ex-president assured that he was not targeted in any criminal proceedings.