Anticorruption updates Ukraine

HOT ANTICORRUPTION NEWS / Issue #133

Today's issue:

- Arsen Avakov's power grab;
- ways forward for anti-corruption infrastructure;
- Committee of the U. S. Congress suspects that Akhmetov’s coal company was illegally removed from the sanction list
- update of the map of anti-corruption conditionalities;
- invitation to diplomatic breakfast regarding damages claim system;
- call to help save Russian prisoner Crimean tatar Jamil Gefarov;
- recommended reading

Arsen Avakov's power grab

President Volodymyr Zelensky declared that the appointment of Arsen Avakov to the position of the minister of interior is transitional and temporary. However, the “temporary” Avakov has already broken the record of the longest-serving minister of the interior in Ukrainian history. During Zelensky’s presidency, Avakov has not surrendered even a bit of his power and even steadily grabs more political influence, reaching far behind his competence as a minister. The main tool for increasing his political weight is excessive control over the National Guard and law enforcement.

Avakov wants more powers to the National Guard which stays under his direct control. Last week the parliament considered the draft law “on intelligence” in the first reading. The Rada Security Committee proposed to provide the National Guard with the status of the military intelligence unit. The proposed wording of the provisions is so broad and general that in practice it can go far beyond the scope of intelligence during performing military tasks and turn into abuse.

Avakov seeks control over all law enforcement bloc and beyond. Undoubtedly, this opens up great opportunities for control over the country, its internal and external politics. At the moment, the only real and effective opposition to Avakov is civil society, which keeps demanding his resignation and consequential police reform. Read more here.

Ways forward for anti-corruption infrastructure

The High Anti-corruption Court started functioning on September 5, 2019, thus completing the formation of anti-corruption infrastructure envisaged by the undergoing anti-corruption reform. These five months brought the first victories for NABU and SAPO, but at the same time, they highlighted the existing challenges in the course of the investigation of corruption crimes. Here we would like to suggest some issues that need to be resolved to further successfully implement the anti-corruption reform.

Committee of the U. S. Congress suspects that Akhmetov’s coal company was illegally removed from the sanction list

Joint investigation of the Schemes: Corruption in Details (a joint project of Radio Liberty and UA: First), AntAC, and Ukrainska Pravda disclosed that Akhmetov's mining companies in the US are under the investigation for numerous safety violations.

However, in summer 2018, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration concluded a settlement agreement with the company of Akhmetov and cancelled the problematic status. Later on, the United States House Committee on Education and Labor became interested in this agreement and started examining it. Akhmetov’s coal company Pocahontas LLC extracts coal in the U.S. and ships it to Ukrainian coke plants. Read the full investigation here.

Also, earlier this week it was revealed that Akhmatov purchases one of the most expensive real estates in the world worth EUR 200 mln.

Update of the map of anti-corruption conditionalities

We would like to remind you about the online instrument we've developed for the monitoring of the implementation of anti-corruption conditionalities set for Ukraine by international partners – map.antac.org.ua – “Mapping Anti-corruption Conditionalities of Ukraine”.

Recently we have added for the monitoring the ongoing reform of judiciary and reform of the Security Service of Ukraine. We will keep you posted on the developments of those reform and interesting news connected to them.

Invitation to diplomatic breakfast regarding damages claim system

We would like to invite you for our joint diplomatic breakfast with NGO Competition&Consumer Council and Nashi Groshi “Establishment of damages claims system in Ukraine”.

It will be held on February 6, 10:30am-12pm at the AntAC office in Kyiv. Please, kindly confirm your participation by filling the form.

It is globally recognised that individuals and firms who suffer from anti-competitive conduct should be entitled to adequate compensation. In a few Western jurisdictions private enforcement has long played a very important role in the competition law framework. These jurisdictions endorsed from the outset that private incentives for compensation through the judicial system can play a crucial complementary role to public enforcement.

According to the Law «On protection of economic competition,» persons who have suffered damages form violation of competition laws can seek recovery in commercial courts. There is an additional statutory incentive - damages can be recovered in double amount of the actual losses sustained. However, successful damages claims have been very rare in Ukraine and there is no well-established court practice in this area. The establishment of an efficient damages claims system is very important for the improvement of antitrust enforcement, business climate and civil society institutions. In addition, the establishment of damages claims system in Ukraine will equip the citizens with more tools for better protection of their rights.

During the presentation, the speakers would like to introduce their vision of the development of this system in Ukraine, the first steps to be made for its launch, possible roadblocks and ways to overcome them.

Speakers of the event:
Agiya Zagrebelska, head of NGO Competition&Consumer Council
Anna Artemenko, co-founder of NGO Competition&Consumer Council
Yuriy Nikolov, co-founder of NGO Competition&Consumer Council, journalist of the Nashi Groshi

Call to help save Russian prisoner Crimean tatar Jamil Gefarov

Jamil Gefarov was detained on March 27, 2019, during the mass arrests of Crimean Tatars in occupied Crimea and charged with fabricated "terrorism" case. Even before being taken into custody, Gefarov had a disability, heart problems, and a fourth-degree chronic kidney disease. With such illnesses, even under Russian law, it is forbidden to keep a person in a detention centre. Instead, he has been in prison for more than nine months. His lawyer explicitly states that his client is in a critical condition that threatens Gefarov's life.

Recommended Reading