Poroshenko Fails To Show Up For Questioning In Illegal Border Crossing Case

Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has failed to show up at the National Bureau of Investigation (DBR) for questioning as a witness in an inquiry into alleged illegal border crossing.

DBR spokeswoman Anzhelika Ivanova said on October 3 that Poroshenko was supposed to arrive for questioning at 10 a.m. local time in "the criminal case related to the possible organization of the illegal crossing of Ukraine's state border by [unspecified] individuals, using forged documents."

According to Ivanova, Poroshenko will be summoned again as his lawyer explained his client's absence was due to his "busy parliamentary schedule."

The probe in question is one of several launched against Poroshenko after he was defeated in a presidential poll in April by Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

It was launched after an investigative report by a joint project by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service and the UA:Pershiy television channel, Skhemy (Schemes), revealed that Poroshenko flew on a private jet to the Maldives in January 2018 with seven other individuals who may have used other identities and skipped passport control.

Poroshenko has denied the allegations saying that his vacation to the Maldives was legal.

Poroshenko, who is currently a deputy in parliament, has skipped other questioning requests from the DBR over several other probes launched after he failed to win a second term in April.

A billionaire confectioner, Poroshenko and his party ran on a pro-European, anti-Russian ticket in the July parliamentary elections, winning 25 seats.

Based on reporting by UNIAN and Nash TV