Anatoly Novak – reformer of the week
Anatoly Novak, one of the three deputy heads of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, is leading Ukraine’s only successful anti-corruption drive so far, along with other top NABU officials.
The NABU on Aug. 17 searched Ukraine’s energy regulator as part of an abuse of power case against Dmytro Vovk, the regulator’s chief and a top ally of President Petro Poroshenko. The case concerns Rotterdam+, an allegedly corrupt coal supply scheme.
And on Aug. 9, the NABU charged with theft seven officials and executives involved in efforts to fortify the border with Russian-occupied areas as part of ex-Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s pet project known as the Wall.
The NABU is also investigating an unlawful enrichment case against Pavlo Vovk, a top judge allegedly linked to Poroshenko’s top allies Igor Kononenko and Oleksandr Hranovsky, and a theft case against Dmytro Sus, an ex-top prosecutor also accused of ties to Kononenko and Hranovsky.
But the NABU faces obstacles. The High Council of Justice on Aug. 18 refused to authorize the NABU’s arrest of a judge in a bribery case. Courts have failed to start hearing 22 out of 80 cases submitted by the NABU, which demonstrates the urgent need to create an independent anti-corruption court.
NABU Deputy Chief Gizo Uglava faces criminal prosecution and possible cancellation of citizenship in what he deems to be a political vendetta.
Oleksiy Takhtai – anti-reformer of the week
Oleksiy Takhtai, the Interior Ministry’s state secretary and a member of the Citizenship Commission, has been ignoring Kyiv Post requests for comment since he voted for the stripping of ex-Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s Ukrainian citizenship on July 26.
In video footage recorded by the Security Service of Ukraine and recognized by courts as genuine, Takhtai, ex-Deputy Interior Minister Serhiy Chebotar, and state firm Spetsvervis CEO Vasyl Petrivsky, an ex-aide to Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, negotiate a corrupt deal to sell sand at a rigged auction. Commenting on the accusations, Takhtai has said that he had not seen the video.
“We published an announcement on the 19th of this month,” Petrivsky said. “An auction will be held before Dec. 10, and we will win…We will buy all the (sand) for our fly-by-night company.”
Takhtai said that “the auction will be held before the 10th, and the fly-by-night company will be the winner and sell all of the sand.”
In the video, Chebotar says that Avakov is also aware of the deal and is worried that the sand has not been sold yet. Petrivsky has pled guilty and has been convicted in a theft case for selling the sand.
Avakov denies graft accusations, while Chebotar has resigned amid graft scandals. Poroshenko Bloc lawmaker Serhiy Kaplin said then that a notice of suspicion had been prepared for Chebotar, and he had fled Ukraine.
Takhtai, an ex-official of ex-President Viktor Yanukovych’s administration, has $23,000 and 5,000 euros in cash, according to his e-declaration for 2015. His father Volodymyr has two recently made cars – a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado and a Mitsubishi Pajero, according to the register of vehicles. Such cars are worth about $38,000 and $16,000 on the market, respectively.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau is also investigating Deputy Interior Minister Vadym Troyan over video footage where people resembling Troyan and Chebotar discuss corrupt revenues from the traffic police and extorting money from businesspeople. Troyan, whose house was searched in July as part of a graft case, denies accusations of corruption.
Avakov and his son Oleksandr are also being investigated over video footage where Oleksandr Avakov and Chebotar discuss an allegedly corrupt scheme to supply backpacks to the Interior Ministry, while the Novoye Vremya magazine has published an investigation on alleged tax evasion by Avakov – accusations that Avakov denies. Avakov’s top ally and lawmaker Ihor Kotvitsky is under investigation over an undeclared transfer of $40 million to Panama.
Meanwhile, the Kharkiv Human Rights Group believes President Petro Poroshenko’s decree to strip Saakashvili of citizenship violates a constitutional ban on the cancellation of citizenship.
Lawyer Vitaly Tytych said that only a conviction of a severe crime could be grounds for stripping someone of Ukrainian citizenship, and Saakashvili has not been convicted of any crimes. Lawyers also say Poroshenko’s refusal to publish the decree is illegal, which Poroshenko denies.
Saakashvili is planning to come back to Ukraine on Sept. 10 through the Krakovets checkpoint in Lviv Oblast on the Polish border. Lawyer Markiyan Halabala says that, under the law, stateless persons who permanently reside in Ukraine, including Saakashvili, do not need a visa to enter the country.
