HOT ANTICORRUPTION NEWS / Issue #108
July 12, 2019
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Today's issue:
- Anticorruption reform priorities: political forum "Establishment of justice — the agenda for next Parliament”; The "Toronto Principles"; EU Ambassador Mingarelli on anticorruption reform;
- Odesa district court acquitted city mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov;
- Anticorruption Court: Rada failed to clarify HACC jurisdiction; CSOs' statement on the selection of HACC deputy chief of staff;
- Zelenskyi fired Antimonopoly Committee reformer Agia Zagrebelska;
- the Rada approved the report of Temporary Investigative Commission on attacks against activists;
- recommended reading
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Political forum "Establishment of justice —
the agenda for next Parliament”
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On Tuesday, July 16, the forum “Establishment of justice — the agenda for next Parliament” will be held in Kyiv.
The coalition of CSOs has put forward demands for the parliamentary candidates necessary to establish real, not just declarative, justice in Ukraine.
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We invite participants from political circles, the executive power, the civil society sector and diplomatic institutions to discuss The Agenda for Justice and its immediate implementation. More details and agenda. Register for the event.
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The "Toronto Principles" for the Ukraine Reform Conference
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The “Toronto Principles” is a vision document which summarizes the aspirations of 80+ reform-minded civil society organizations (CSOs), the private sector and the public for the future of Ukraine.
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They were prepared for the Ukraine Reform Conference which was held on July 2-4 in Canada. Many thanks to the Government of Canada for hosting and organizing the Conference!
The principle defined for the anticorruption reform is as follows:
Improve the effectiveness of anticorruption infrastructure: Ensure that all elements of the anticorruption infrastructure [National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP), National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor (SAP), High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC), Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA), the authorized departments engaged in prevention of corruption in governmental bodies] are professional, independent, effective, and devoid of political interference, in order to prevent and counteract corruption. It is thus necessary to restart the NACP; to re-select SAPO management under a new legal procedure, as well as to ensure the independence of both bodies. It is also essential to prevent attempts to eliminate anti-corruption legislation and institutions such as NABU. The HACC must be provided with all of the necessary resources. Lastly, it is necessary to carry out a comprehensive reform of the Security Service of Ukraine to deprive it of atypical anticorruption and economic powers.
The principle on the justice sector includes depoliticization of the judiciary and increase in the effectiveness of its renewal by empowering those that are most trusted by society (representatives of civil society and foreign experts); as well as re-launch the qualification assessment of judges whose integrity is in doubt.
Full text of the "Toronto Principles". Full text of the accompanying policy briefs.
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EU Ambassador Hugues Mingarelli on the priorities of the anticorruption reform
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During the presentation of the research "EU and NATO in the New Rada: What Reforms Ukraine is Expecting for?”, Ambassador Mingarelli stressed that the EU is expecting that the High Anticorruption Court will start operations in early September, while institutions like the
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National Agency for Corruption Prevention and the Specialized Anticorruption Prosecutor's Office will be rebooted to make them more effective. The EU also awaits for the Security Service and prosecutor's office reforms based on the recommendations of the EU, the US and NATO. More details (in Ukrainian).
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Odesa district court acquitted city mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov
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On July 9 Malynivskyi district court of Odesa acquitted Gennadiy Trukhanov in "Krayan factory case". The court was moving blazingly fast, holding hearings from morning till night - all to allow Trukhanov to avoid the new Anticorruption Court. The case will be appealed. However, if the appeals court issues verdict before September 5 (the date of scheduled HACC launch) the case will fully bypass the HACC.
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The "Krayan factory case" regards embezzlement of 92 million UAH during the purchase by Odesa city council of the building of the factory. SAPO had requested 12 years in prison with the confiscation of Trukhanov's assets. More details.
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Rada failed to clarify HACC jurisdiction
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The jurisdiction of the High Anticorruption Court (HACC), as defined by the law on HACC covers all high profile corruption cases, investigated by NABU/SAPO as well as cases on corruption related to drug and weapon trafficking. In practice, this means that if the court starts operations on September 5, 2019, around 3,600 cases should be transferred to it. Only ~170 cases were brought by NABU/SAPO.
Moreover, ~2,300 are the cases where NABU/SAPO jurisdiction was violated and which were investigated by other law enforcement bodies. These cases might be problematic in the court.
Given that there are 38 judges of the HACC of both chambers, the work of the court would be paralyzed.
To resolve this problem, on July 8, President Zelenskyi submitted to the Parliament draft law No10426 “On amending certain laws to eliminate obstacles for the launch of the High Anticorruption Court of Ukraine”. The draft law suggests transferring to HACC only those cases which:
a) were fully investigated by NABU/SAPO;
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b) fall under HACC jurisdiction clause and were registered at the State registry of pretrial investigations after the moment of HACC launch.
However, this draft law was not considered by the Rada. July 8-12 was the last plenary week of the Rada before the elections. Next week we will share a more detailed brief about possible solutions of the HACC jurisdiction issues.
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Statement of CSOs on the selection of HACC Deputy Chief of Staff
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DEJURE Foundation, AntAC, Automaidan, TI-Ukraine urge the High Council of Justice and the Commission on the High Corps of Public Service in the System of Justice to organize a new competition for the position of the Deputy Chief of Staff of the HACC, and for the State Judicial Administration not to appoint Oksana Litvinova for this position.
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Oksana Litvinova used to work as the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Kyiv Oblast Appeal Court, where she perpetrated grave violations, identified in the course of the scheduled audit, resulting in a disciplinary proceeding against her. More details.
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Zelenskyi fired Antimonopoly Committee reformer Agia Zagrebelska
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This comes as worrying news.
According to Nashi Groshi, Zagrebelska is well known for her investigations into abusive schemes. As a result of her investigation, the cartel of Defence Ministry caterers got a record penalty in the history of Ukraine;
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she conducted an investigation into the monopoly of the "shell companies" associated with Anton Yatsenko concerning access to the State Property Fund of Ukraine evaluation database. Over the course of Poroshenko’s term in office, she prevented the creation of a monopoly on the lottery market by the firm at that time patronized by Oleksandr Tretiakov, MP of Poroshenko's Bloc, and many others.
During Poroshenko’s Office, the NACP filed a protocol against Zahrebelska for allegedly failing to declare the sale of the old car to her relative in time. The case was bogus.
Zagrebelska plans to challenge dismissal in the court.
She was named by Kyivpost as a reformer of the week. We are very grateful for her work!
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The Rada approved a report of Temporary Investigative Commission on attacks against activists
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The Commission did parliamentary inquiry into Kateryna Handziuk's murder and other attacks against activists. It demands from the law enforcement bodies to pay specific attention to the investigations of attacks in Odesa: against Vitaliy Ustymenko, Sergiy Sternenko and Oleg Mykhailyk.
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The inquiry did not name the instigators of Handziuk's murder but initiated a number of in-house investigations that might facilitate criminal investigations of attacks.
Summing up the report, head of the Commission Boryslav Bereza stated that activists need protection from the law enforcement bodies.
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