Copy
HOT ANTICORRUPTION NEWS / Issue #97
April 5, 2019
Share
Tweet
Forward
  
Today's issue:

- Ukraine will be stuck with an oligarch-linked president. But the fight rages on;
- AntAC rebuttal to Solomon's defamatory column about us;
- the HQCJ decision on anticorruption court competition is jeopardized because the mandate of three HQCJ members is challenged;
- Schemy journalistic investigation: What is Zelenskyi up to;
- Handziuk's case updates;
- recommended reading
  
Ukraine will be stuck with an oligarch-linked president. But the fight rages on

(photo by Dzerkalo Tyzhnia) 

The bad news is that after the first round of the presidential election on Sunday is it is obvious that the country will likely be stuck with an oligarch-linked president yet again. Though it would be easy to conclude that Ukraine’s momentum for democratic reform is waning, but that’s not the case. In fact, the fight still rages on.

The results of the presidential election will influence the pace of reform and the struggle for it. The good news is that the society, not the president, controls the direction of the country’s democratic transformation. Over the next president’s five-year term, civil society and journalists must guard the real gains that have been made. More details in the op-ed by Vitaliy Shabunin and Olena Halushka for the Washington Post (prepared in cooperation with the WorldPost). 
AntAC rebuts Solomon's defamatory column

Last week, The Hill’s journalist John Solomon published a set of sensational columns dragging us into a complicated American national political debate where we do not belong. The basic problem is that Solomon relied completely on Ukraine’s discredited Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko for his claims - which were highly defamatory and groundless. Full text of the op-ed by Daria Kaleniuk for the Hill. 

The HQCJ decision on anticorruption court competition is in jeopardy as the mandate of three HQCJ members is challenged
On April 4, 2019 the Ombudsman Lydmila Denysova issued a decree on appointment of a new member of the High Qualification Commission of Judges Mykola Sirosh instead of Tetiana Veselska. According to information from an attorney of subjects of NABU investigations, the decree says it is issued “due to the expiration of the term of office of HQCJ member Tetiana Veselska”.

Such an approach would mean that term of office of Veselska expired in December 2018, as she was appointed in late 2014. This may be used as a pretext for challenging HQCJ decision on results of the competition for the High Anticorruption Court (HACC), adopted in January 2019, as the one adopted by the illegitimate composition of the HQCJ.

Moreover, terms of office of two more HQCJ members - Sergiy Koziakov, delegated by the Ministry of Justice in October 2014 and Stanislav Shchotka, appointed by State Judicial Administration in December 2014 - are questioned as well.  

AntAC team analyzed the legislation and came to the conclusion that the current composition of the HQCJ is legitimate and the mandates of the three members are valid. More details. 

Schemy journalistic investigation:
What is Zelenskyi up to?

The presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelenskyi is often surronded by journalists. They constantly ask him about connections with the oligarch Ihor Kolomoiskyi, about the influence of Kolomoiskyi, about funding from Kolomoiskyi, about friendship with Kolomoiskyi. Very often! Volodymyr Zelenskyi has to justify himself constantly. See Schemy's journalistic investigation
Update on Handziuk's case
Slidstvo.info journalistic investigation "Handziuk. An institutional murder".

In addition, activists of the "Who is behind the murder of Kateryna Handziuk" initiative appealed to the PresidentPoroshenko. They reminded that it is exactly 8 months from the day of the attack on Kateryna, and called Poroshenko to dismiss the leadership of Kherson state administration Andriy Gordeiev and Yevhen Ryshchuk, condemn Odesa mayor Trukhanov and Kharkiv mayor Kernes, and take other important steps. Full text of the statement. 

Also see OCCRP investigation. 

Recommended Reading
 
Time to Play Hardball on Reforming Ukraine's Security Service - Oleksandra Ustinova and Steven Pifer for the Atlantic Council
 
Copyright © *2019* Anti-corruption Action Centre*, All rights reserved.

Should you have any questions or comments please contact Olena Halushka at: ohalushka@antac.org.ua

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list