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Reformer of the week – Andriy Perov
Andriy Perov was one of the few anti-corruption prosecutors not to back his discredited boss, Chief Anti-Corruption Prosecutor Nazar Kholodnytsky.
Perov, along with his fellow anti-corruption prosecutor Roman Symkiv, did not sign a letter in support of Kholodnytsky that many of his colleagues signed on July 25. In the letter, the prosecutors accused anti-corruption activists and media, including the Ukrainska Pravda online newspaper, of pressuring Kholodnytsky and other anti-corruption prosecutors.
The High Qualification Commission of Prosecutors on July 26 decided not to fire Kholodnytsky, who stands accused of obstructing top corruption investigations, and merely reprimanded him.
On tapes published by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine in April, a man with a voice sound like that of Kholodnytsky is heard obstructing corruption cases against Odesa Mayor Hennady Trukhanov, Natalia Korchak, the former head of the National Agency for Preventing Corruption, People’s Front lawmaker Georgii Logvynskyi, and other powerful figures.
Perov has presented the graft case against ex-lawmaker Mykola Martynenko in court jointly with his colleague Symkiv. Martynenko has been charged with being involved with organized crime and embezzling $17 million during the sale of uranium ore to the state-owned Eastern Ore Dressing Plant.
Perov and Symkiv have also led the corruption case against State Fiscal Service Chief Roman Nasirov, who was arrested by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau on embezzlement charges but released on bail of Hr 100 million in March 2017.
Anti-reformer of the week – Vasyl Krychun
Anti-corruption prosecutor Vasyl Krychun has backed his discredited boss Nazar Kholodnytsky in his ongoing conflict with the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine.
In early July Krychun closed a NABU embezzlement case against Interior Minister Arsen Avakov’s son Oleksandr Avakov and the minister’s ex-deputy Serhiy Chebotar. The anti-corruption prosecutor’s office did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Oleksandr Avakov, Chebotar and IT firm Turboseo’s CEO Volodymyr Lytvyn are accused of embezzling Hr 14 million in a case related to the supply of overpriced backpacks to the Interior Ministry. The suspects deny the accusations and believe them to be a political vendetta by the NABU.
The investigation against Avakov and Chebotar had already been completed and had been expected to be sent to trial, but Krychun first resumed it and then closed it.
The anti-corruption prosecutor’s office said on July 12 that Lytvyn had pled guilty to fraud and document forgery and given testimony that Oleksandr Avakov and Chebotar had not been involved in the scheme. This version contradicts video footage obtained by the NABU in which Chebotar and Oleksandr Avakov negotiate the corrupt deal.
In 2017, NABU said that an examination of the video confirmed the authenticity of the voices of Avakov and Chebotar, while another examination determined that the video had not been tampered with, and there were no discrepancies between its audio and video tracks.
A NABU source who was not authorized to speak to the press told the Kyiv Post that Kholodnytsky, who has been accused of blocking and sabotaging NABU cases, had reached a deal with Avakov and other top officials. According to the deal, Kholodnytsky would keep his job in exchange for closing the Avakov case.
Kholodnytsky’s deputy Volodymyr Kryvenko denied the accusations, saying that the decision in the Avakov case had been made independently of Kholodnytsky.
