Budanov mentioned in Mudra's suspicion: Media revealed his role in the "Forrest Gump" case

Head of the President's Office Kyrylo Budanov is mentioned in the suspicion text of former Deputy Head of the President's Office Iryna Mudra within the NABU and SAPO operation "Forrest Gump". At the same time, sources of "Ukrainska Pravda" claim that President Volodymyr Zelenskyi allegedly tasked Budanov to organize the search for funds for bail for former minister Herman Halushchenko.

According to UP, the text of Mudra's suspicion contains mentions of Budanov. At the same time, anti-corruption bodies currently do not comment on whether they have recordings of conversations directly with his voice.

Therefore, the publication emphasizes that it is still too early to assert whether Budanov was the "leadership" to whom Mudra referred during the discussion of collecting and legalizing funds for Halushchenko's bail, or whether the relevant tasks came directly from the president.

At the same time, UP interlocutors among influential businessmen claim that the operation to search for funds for Halushchenko's bail was allegedly entrusted by Volodymyr Zelenskyi specifically to Budanov. He, according to their version, involved former people's deputy and developer Maksym Mykytas in this.

At that time, there was a need to find legal funds for posting bail. Initially its amount was 200 million UAH, but later the court reduced it to 150 million UAH. On June 29, this amount for Halushchenko was posted by several companies, after which he was released from the detention center.

Separately, UP writes about Budanov's contacts with other defendants in the case. According to sources of the publication, he communicated with Vadym Stolar both before moving to the position of head of the President's Office and after it, and also maintained contacts with Mykytas. Budanov himself, according to UP interlocutors, privately denies meeting them in the building of the President's Office.

The publication of records, judging from the words of UP interlocutors, caused noticeable concern in the head of the President's Office.

"He walks white after the publication of the tapes. He doesn't meet with anyone from outsiders", - this is how a source in the President's Office described his condition.

After the suspicion was served to Mudra, Budanov, according to information from UP sources in business circles, also joined in resolving the issue of her defense. At the same time, the publication's interlocutors assert that potential funds for bail must be "crystal clear".

In the circle of the head of the President's Office, this information is interpreted differently. There they assure that Budanov helps Mudra only with finding lawyers and does not collect money.

"He helps with lawyers, not with money. There is someone to help with bail without him", - UP quotes a source in the circle of the head of the President's Office.

After searches and receiving the suspicion, Mudra submitted a resignation letter from the President's Office. She stated that she would defend her name independently and would not transfer this struggle to the state.

Thus, at the moment, only the fact of Budanov's mention in Mudra's suspicion text is reliably confirmed. The claims about Zelenskyi's order to search for funds for Halushchenko and Budanov's possible participation in this process are based on information from "Ukrainska Pravda" sources and are not established by the investigation.

Based on materials: Ukrainska Pravda