--- title: "Operation 'Forrest Gump': How the President's Office Tried to Bribe the Public Council to Remove Klymenko from the Head of SAP Post" description: "NABU and SAP exposed Operation 'Forrest Gump': PO officials planned to bribe the public council to prevent the re-election of Oleksandr Klymenko as head of SAP." date: 2026-08-19T10:10:03.000Z lang: en url: https://xab.info/en/posts/operation-forrest-gump-po-tried-to-remove-klymenko-from-sap-head-post tags: [ukraine-politics, nabu, sap, corruption, forest-gamp, alexander-klimenko, iryna-mudra] publisher: "XAB.info" --- # Operation 'Forrest Gump': How the President's Office Tried to Bribe the Public Council to Remove Klymenko from the Head of SAP Post ![Oleksandr Klymenko, head of SAO, at a press conference in Ukraine Media Center, discussing the attempt by OP to bribe the public council](https://xab.info/media/2026/08/19/operatsiya-forest-gamp-op-pytalsya-udalit-klimenko-s-posta-glavy-sap/operatsiya-forest-gamp-op-pytalsya-udalit-klimenko-s-posta-glavy-sap-1.webp) ## 🎯 Key Points - NABU and SAP announced Operation 'Forrest Gump' against a group of PO officials and MPs. - Iryna Mudra discussed bribing votes in the NABU public council to thwart Klymenko's re-election. - MPs Alexey Goncharenko, Vadym Stolar, and Maksym Mykytasy are mentioned in the case, but official confirmation of their involvement is absent. - Law enforcement confirmed attempts by the PO to interfere with personnel appointments in anti-corruption bodies. August 19, 2026, became a turning point in Ukraine's anti-corruption agenda. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP) publicly announced the completion of a large-scale special operation codenamed 'Forrest Gump'. During the investigation, law enforcement officials exposed the activities of a criminal group consisting of current and former Members of Parliament (MPs), as well as high-ranking officials of the President's Office (PO). According to the case materials, the main goal of this group was to interfere with personnel appointments in anti-corruption bodies and to thwart the re-election of Oleksandr Klymenko as the head of SAP. ### PO Recordings: 'Scatter' Votes and Remove Klymenko At the center of the investigation were recorded conversations of the Deputy Head of the President's Office, Iryna Mudra. The materials of Operation 'Forrest Gump' recorded a discussion that took place on June 9, 2026, during which the official planned to manipulate the elections of members of the Public Council for NABU control. In the conversation, Mudra inquired about how to gather votes for her supporters using the names of acquaintances and openly proposed a bribery mechanism. "So, who to scatter [the money] to so they vote... Can you scatter it so that your these..." — Mudra suggested to her interlocutor, effectively calling for bribes to form the desired composition of the council. Later, she expressed indignation at the lack of an alternative to Oleksandr Klymenko, calling him "unprincipled" and asserting that he is "not one of ours." Mudra complained to a high-ranking PO official that the department is "stepping on the same rake," failing to prepare a successor for the current head of SAP, who, in her opinion, "dreams of being re-elected". ### Law Enforcement Strike and Case Figures Against the backdrop of official statements by NABU and SAP regarding the exposure of a criminal organization, news about specific figures erupted in the information space. MP Alexey Goncharenko reported searches at the residence of the Deputy Head of the PO, Iryna Mudra. RBC-Ukraine, citing sources, clarified that MP Vadym Stolar and former MP Maksym Mykytasy might be within the orbit of the investigation. However, law enforcement agencies currently do not officially confirm the involvement of the listed persons in the case, limiting themselves to general formulations about a group led by deputies. ### Contradictory Data There is a discrepancy between the official statements of law enforcement officials and information appearing in the media and from politicians. On the one hand, NABU and SAP confirmed the existence of a criminal group involving PO officials and deputies, as well as revealed details of bribery attempts. On the other hand, specific names (Stolar, Mykytasy) and the fact of searches at Mudra's residence remain at the level of statements by individual MPs and media sources, not supported by official press releases from the Prosecutor General's Office or NABU. This creates an information vacuum where the actual participation of specific persons in Operation 'Forrest Gump' can be interpreted differently until the publication of official indictments. ### Political Context and Consequences The events of August 19, 2026, became the culmination of a long confrontation between the anti-corruption bloc and part of the administrative resources of the President's Office. The attempt to thwart the re-election of Oleksandr Klymenko, whom Mudra called "unprincipled," indicates an attempt to regain control over NABU and SAP. The exposure of Operation 'Forrest Gump' demonstrates the willingness of law enforcement to work with recorded conversations and expose corruption schemes within the highest echelons of power, which could lead to a large-scale personnel purge in the PO and the Verkhovna Rada. ## 🔍 Fact-Check Verification - [PO planned to prevent Klymenko from heading SAP again - recordings from the 'Forrest Gump' case](https://www.rbc.ua/ukr/news/op-planuvali-zavaditi-klimenku-znovu-ocholiti-1787134070.html) - Основной источник информации о деталях разговоров Ирины Мудрой и целях операции. - [SAP: Yermak consulted a fortune teller 'Veronika Feng Shui' regarding state appointments](https://www.pravda.com.ua/rus/news/2026/05/12/8034378/) - Подтверждено по источнику pravda.com.ua - [Rada tells why Zelensky's Office will try to take control of NABU again](https://www.gazeta.ru/politics/news/2026/07/17/28916869.shtml) - Подтверждено по источнику gazeta.ru - ['This series transforms from release to release': Smirnov responds to accusations from NABU and SAP](https://focus.ua/ukraine/745137-etot-serial-transformiruetsya-iz-reliza-v-reliz-smirnov-otvetil-na-obvineniya-ot-nabu-i-sap) - Подтверждено по источнику focus.ua ## ❓ FAQ ### Q: What is Operation 'Forrest Gump'? **A:** It is a joint special operation by NABU and SAP to expose a criminal group that attempted to interfere with personnel appointments in anti-corruption bodies. ### Q: Who are the main figures in the case? **A:** According to the materials, the group included PO officials (specifically Iryna Mudra) and MPs, but official charges have not yet been announced for all of them. ### Q: Why did the PO want to remove Oleksandr Klymenko? **A:** PO officials considered him "unprincipled" and "not one of ours," fearing that he would continue investigations against representatives of the authorities.