Reformer of the week – Oleksandr Danylyuk
Finance Minister Oleksandr Danylyuk, one of the last reformers in government, was fired by the Verkhovna Rada on June 7 after accusing presidential allies of corruption and sabotaging reform.
Danylyuk said in a June 4 interview with the Yevropeiska Pravda online newspaper that lawmaker Ihor Kononenko, a top ally of President Petro Poroshenko, had tried to install Ihor Umansky as a deputy finance minister to lobby for his interests.
Kononenko denied the accusations.
Pressure had been building on Danylyuk to resign amid his conflicts with Kononenko, Poroshenko Bloc lawmaker Nina Yuzhanina, and Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman. Danylyuk has accused Groysman of blocking the appointment of Yana Bugrimova as his deputy and sabotaging the reform of the State Fiscal Service.
Danylyuk’s deputy Oksana Markarova became the acting finance minister.
Markarova was investigated in a graft case against ex-President Viktor Yanukovych’s former chief of staff Andriy Klyuyev, according to Volodymyr Petrakovsky, a former prosecutor and a Reanimation Package of Reforms expert, but never charged with any crime. She denies accusations of wrongdoing, and her supporters cite her successful business background and her drive to make the Finance Ministry more transparent.
Danylyuk’s firing follows the dismissal and resignation of many other reformers in government in recent years. These include ex-Deputy Prosecutor Generals Vitaly Kasko and David Sakvarelidze, ex-Economy Minister Aivaras Avromavicius, ex-Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko, ex-National Police Chief Khatia Dekanoidze, ex-Deputy Interior Minister Ekaterina Zguladze, ex-Odesa Oblast Governor Mikheil Saakashvili, and others.
Anti-reformer of the week – Oleksiy Filatov
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau is investigating President Petro Poroshenko’s Deputy Chief of Staff Oleksiy Filatov in an unlawful enrichment case.
Filatov told RBC Ukraine that the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, or NABU, had not sent any requests to him. He said that a person affiliated with the Ukrop party had initiated a case against him. “It wasn’t very professional,” Filatov said. “He’s either too young or doesn’t have any legal experience.”
The Presidential Administration told the Ukrainska Pravda online newspaper that Filatov had declared all his income according to the law and was prepared to give explanations to the NABU.
According to an investigation by the Nashi Hroshi corruption watchdog, Filatov has failed to declare the property of his common law wife Hanna Babych. Babych’s firm AEQUO has obtained a number of contracts from government bodies run by acquaintances of Filatov and Babych, Nashi Hroshi said.
Filatov denied violating the law by not declaring his relationship to Babych and her property.
He has also been accused of unlawfully influencing the judiciary, which he denies. Serhiy Chumak, a judge of the Dnipro Administrative Court of Appeals, said in April that Supreme Court candidates had been summoned for meetings at the Presidential Administration with Filatov for approval.
In 2015, Anton Chernushenko, the ex-chairman of the Kyiv Court of Appeals, who fled the country after being charged with unlawfully interfering in the distribution of cases, accused Poroshenko and Filatov of ordering him to issue certain rulings promoting the president’s interests. Filatov and Poroshenko denied the accusations.
