The 15,000 or 18,000 prosecutors in the nation – Deputy Prosecutor General Vitaliy Kasko says nobody could give him an exact number before he resigned on Feb. 15 in disgust with obstruction of investigations – have never served the public interest. They’ve served instead to protect the corrupt people who are in power, and to punish their enemies.
So it’s not enough to have Shokin resign.
He is a ripe candidate to be prosecuted for obstruction of justice, not only of investigations of corruption among his underlings, but also for stifling investigations into any high-profile suspects during his time. There are no investigations under way of former President Viktor Yanukovych’s cronies such as Yuriy Boyko, Dmytro Firtash or Serhiy Lyovychkin. There are none under way of former officials on the European Union sanctions list. And there is no discernible progress in investigating those who ordered the murders of 100 EuroMaidan Revolution demonstrators two years ago.
It would be fitting justice if President Petro Poroshenko replaced his crony Shokin with the independent Kasko. But Poroshenko would never dare surrender control of the prosecutor’s office.
Kasko told the Kyiv Post on Feb. 17 that he would not take the top job because Poroshenko and others in power are not interested in battling corruption and creating an effective and independent criminal justice system. So the 40-year-old crusader from Lviv, cut short in his mission, will return to private practice.
His opinion is that the National Anti-Corruption Bureau could have plenty of evidence to prosecute Shokin on obstruction of justice charges. Now that would be a good way to see justice start in Ukraine – investigate Shokin, give him the presumption of innocence, but charge and try him if evidence of criminal wrongdoing is found.
Kyiv Post chief editor Brian Bonner can be reached at [email protected]
