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Ukraine To Fire Prosecutor Who Led Probes Into Burisma Holdings

By Current Time November 14, 2019

KYIV -- Ukraine's Prosecutor-General Ruslan Ryaboshapka says the prosecutor who led investigations into a local gas company where Joe Biden's son served on the board will be fired.

Hunter Biden has been a central figure at the heart of the impeachment inquiry into U.S. President Donald Trump.

Ryaboshapka told Current Time on November 13 that Kostyantyn Kulyk will be fired because he had failed to show up to a regular test requested for all employees of the Prosecutor- General's Office.

"According to the current law, we have no other choice but to say goodbye" to Kulyk, the deputy head of the office's Department of International Legal Cooperation, Ryaboshapka said.

He also said there was no pressure exerted on him regarding the investigation of Burisma Holdings' activities, adding that many months are needed to fully investigate the case.

"I do not feel any pressure either from our president or foreign political figures. In general, I am free to do everything that I think is proper and corresponds to the law, but not anything that somebody else wants," the prosecutor-general said.

Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani has acknowledged meeting Kulyk to discuss allegations against the Bidens.

The Democrat-led inquiry, which could lead to Trump's impeachment by the House of Representatives, is looking at whether Trump sought to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to open an investigation into White House contender Joe Biden and his son by withholding military aid to the country.

Trump has accused Biden, who oversaw Ukraine policy during the administration of former President Barack Obama, of pressuring Kyiv to fire its prosecutor-general in order to halt an investigation into Burisma.

Ryaboshapka also said that U.S. law enforcement bodies had "no less information than we have."

"In principle, if they wished, they could conduct the very same investigation, and in no lower quality than we are conducting," he said.

With reporting by Reuters

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine- to-fire-prosecutor-who-led-probes-into- burisma-holdings/30272137.html

Copyright (c) 2019. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.