Savik Shuster
TV presenter Savik Shuster told Gordon that State Fiscal Service head Roman Nasirov is harassing his studio and settling personal scores with his television channel.
Shuster told the publication's journalists that the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech held a meeting on April 20. At the meeting, members of parliament considered an appeal from Savik Shuster Studio, which has been engaged in litigation with the State Fiscal Service for the past several months.
Nasirov's department accuses Savik Shuster's television studio of selling its programs to the National Television Company of Ukraine at below-market prices. As a result, the studio allegedly failed to pay more than 13 million hryvnias in taxes. Furthermore, criminal proceedings have been opened against Shuster and several of his colleagues for tax evasion.
Savik Shuster claimed that Mr. Nasirov was "harboring a personal grudge against his television channel." The grudge stemmed from the fact that on September 11, the head of the State Fiscal Service, along with MP Yegor Sobolev and the head of the Anti-Corruption Action Center, Vitaly Shabunin, appeared on the Shuster LIVE television program. The participants then asked Nasirov an "inconvenient question" about his London property. The audience's confidence level in Nasirov's speech did not exceed 7%.
Shuster noted that just a week after the program aired, State Fiscal Service officers came to his television studio for an inspection.
"We understand this is a contract. Of course, Roman Nasirov has personal scores to settle. However, he is backed by senior officials who don't benefit from the truth being told today," Savik Shuster noted.
Shuster stated that he feels unprecedented pressure on his television channel from the State Fiscal Service and that this pressure should be regarded as an “attack on freedom of the press.”
Representatives of the State Fiscal Service ignored an invitation to a meeting of the Committee for the Protection of Freedom of Speech. Therefore, members of parliament appealed to Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman and Parliament Speaker Andriy Parubiy to invite Nasirov to a Verkhovna Rada meeting on April 22 to discuss the situation with Savik Shuster Studio.
On the topic: Roman Nasirov. The business past of Ukraine's top tax official
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