Reformer of the week: Yehveniia Motorevska
Yehveniia Motorevska, a member of the Public Integrity Council, on July 18 criticized the High Qualification Commission’s disregard for the council’s vetoes of candidates for Supreme Court jobs – candidates the council deemed to be corrupt or dishonest.
The High Qualification Commission, a governing body of the judiciary, had ignored 56 percent of vetoes by the Public Integrity Council, a civil society watchdog, on 133 candidates by the time it finished considering the vetoes on July 17.
The commission ignored 81 percent of the vetoes it considered during interviews with candidates in April to May, and overrode 75 percent of the vetoes that it considered in June to July.
One of the overridden vetoes was that of Valentyna Symonenko, head of the Council of Judges. Symonenko’s ex-husband has a business in Crimea, while her sister is an official who works for the Russian occupation government on the annexed peninsula, Motorevska said.
Another candidate supported by the High Qualification Commission is incumbent Supreme Court Chairman Yaroslav Romanyuk, who backed the Jan. 16, 2014 laws that cracked down on civil liberties.
The commission, which denies accusations of wrongdoing, has often ignored information on judges’ undeclared property, their lawless decisions and participation in political cases.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian authorities have so far refused to create independent anti-corruption courts.
The European Union had previously insisted on their creation but European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on July 13 that Poroshenko had persuaded him that Ukraine should create an anti-corruption panel within the existing Supreme Court instead of establishing independent anti-corruption courts. The statement triggered a backlash from Ukraine’s civil society, and the EU had to make a statement that its position on anti-corruption courts had not changed.
Anti-reformer of the week: Olga Bogomolets
Olga Bogomolets, head of the Verkhovna Rada’s health care committee, had failed to sign up to a health care reform bill ahead of the Verkhovna Rada’s last day of work on July 13, effectively blocking the legislation.
Acting Health Minister Ulana Suprun’s reform aims to eliminate loopholes for graft in the health care system, make budget money “follow the patient” and introduce international best practices for treatment. Instead of signing the bill, Bogomolets went to Kyiv’s Feofania Hospital for treatment on July 13, prompting comparisons with State Fiscal Service Chief Roman Nasirov, who was brought there on the eve of his arrest in a graft case in March. But on the same day, Bogomolets voted for a bill that would give President Petro Poroshenko effective control over the Constitutional Court, triggering speculation on whether she was voting herself or someone was using her voting card.
Another opponent of the health care reform, Bogomolets’ deputy on the committee, Oleh Musiy, attended a rally on July 13 in front of the Health Ministry in protest at Suprun’s proposals. A demonstrator with a poster of ex-President Viktor Yanukovych’s Party of Regions was seen at the protest. Dmytro Gurin, an advisor at the Health Ministry, published a video of a woman that he said had distributed money to the protesters.
Musiy and Bogomolets, as well as Borys Todurov, the head of Kyiv’s Heart Institute, and Poroshenko Bloc lawmaker Glib Zahoriy have been accused of using their government connections to promote their business interests in the healthcare industry – charges that they deny.
