Oleg Sukhov: Reformer and anti-reformer of the week

By Oleg Sukhov.

Published Aug. 18, 2016. Updated Nov. 24 at 2:39 pm

(L) Reformer of the week: Artem Sytnyk, the head of National Anti-corruption Bureau(R) Anti-reformer of the week: Volodymyr Hutsulyak,the head of the anti-graft department of the Prosecutor General's Office.

Photo by Volodymyr Petrov and gpu.gov

Reformer of the week: Artem SytnykArtem Sytnyk, head of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, has clashed with the Prosecutor General’s Office – a corrupt, distrusted and politicized agency – over the past week. Activists view the conflict as part of President Petro Poroshenko’s efforts to crack down on the bureau’s independence and restrict its ability to jail corrupt officials. Employees of the bureau were conducting surveillance of prosecutors subordinated to Volodymyr Hutsulyak and Dmytro Sus last week in a corruption case. According to the employees’ testimony, they were tortured by the prosecutors. A source with knowledge of the matter told the Kyiv Post that Sus was a suspect in an unlawful enrichment case. Sus has admitted using an Audi Q7 car and claims that he bought it with his $12,000 annual salary. The car, which costs about $40,000, was not included in Sus’ 2015 declaration and is reportedly registered to Sus’ grandmother. Meanwhile, earlier this month the bureau caught Mykola Chaus, a judge reportedly tied to Poroshenko’s grey cardinal Oleksandr Hranovsky, with a $150,000 bribe earlier this month. Lawmaker Sergii Leshchenko said on Aug. 17 that Hranovsky was planning to file a motion with the Constitutional Court to strip the anti-graft bureau of part of its powers.

Anti-reformer of the week: Volodymyr Hutsulyak

Employees of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine on Aug. 15 accused prosecutors of the anti-graft department of the Prosecutor General’s Office of torture. That unit is headed by Volodymyr Hutsulyak.

The employees were conducting surveillance of prosecutors in a corruption case and called the anti-graft bureau’s special force unit, which helped to free them.

Hutsulyak and his deputy Dmytro Sus deny the bureau’s version, in turn accusing the bureau’s special force unit of beating them up.

Hutsulyak and Sus have been accused of fabricating political cases on behalf of President Petro Poroshenko’s grey cardinals, Ihor Kononenko and Oleksandr Hranovsky. They deny the accusations. Hutsulyak and Sus are also reportedly protégés of Deputy Prosecutor General Yuriy Stolyarchuk. According to lawmaker Yegor Sobolev, Stolyarchuk also visited the alleged torture chamber.

Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko has faced intensifying pressure to fire or suspend Stolyarchuk, Sus and Hutsulyak, but thus far has ignored the demands.