Reformer of the week – Hanna Solomatina
Hanna Solomatina, a top official of the National Agency for Preventing Corruption, came out as a whistleblower on Nov. 14, saying that her agency is fully controlled by President Petro Poroshenko and is involved in massive corruption.
Her accusations were confirmed by two other whistleblowers from the agency, and several ex-NAPC officials also backed up some of her claims. The NAPC and the Presidential Administration denied the accusations.
Solomatina said Oleksiy Gorashchenkov, a top official of the Presidential Administration, had told her that asset declaration checks and their results must be authorized by the administration, and she declined the offer. Gorashchenkov is a top candidate to head the yet-to-be-created State Investigation Bureau.
She also said that the NAPC was a tool used to help top officials escape punishment and crack down on the government’s critics.
Moreover, NAPC Chief Natalia Korchak and other top officials of the agency have falsified asset declarations and have obtained bribes to prepare positive conclusions on declarations, Solomatina said.
Solomatina also said that the NAPC’s leadership had prevented checks of the declarations of candidates for Supreme Court jobs in an apparent attempt to cover up for political loyalists. Poroshenko on Nov. 10 appointed to the Supreme Court 25 judges deemed corrupt or dishonest by the Public Integrity Council, a civil-society watchdog.
Anti-reformer of the week – Tetiana Strelets
The High Council of Justice on Nov. 14 appointed Tetiana Strelets and Serhiy Pohribny as judges of the Supreme Court, bringing the total number of Supreme Court appointees accused of violating judicial ethics to 27 and dealing another blow to the judiciary’s reputation.
The candidacies of both Strelets and Pohribny were vetoed by the Public Integrity Council, a civil society watchdog. But the vetoes were ignored by the High Council of Justice.
Strelets and Pohribny deny accusations of wrongdoing. Their credentials have yet to be signed by President Petro Poroshenko.
Strelets has helped judges who unlawfully tried EuroMaidan activists escape justice by cancelling their dismissal by the High Council of Justice, the Public Integrity Council said. New Supreme Court judges Valentyna Yurchenko, Alla Lesko, Larysa Moroz, Oleksandr Zolotnikov and Mykhailo Smokovych have also made decisions in favor of judges accused of unlawfully trying EuroMaidan activists.
The lifestyle of Pohribny does not match his declared income, and he has also violated judicial ethics by banning journalists from filming court hearings, according to the Public Integrity Council. The council also said there was evidence tying Pohribny to political figures, including Serhiy Kivalov, a former ally of ex-President Viktor Yanukovych.
Poroshenko on Nov. 10 signed the credentials of 113 new Supreme Court judges. Of these, 25 were vetoed by the Public Integrity Council, which said they obtained ill-gotten wealth, participated in political cases, made unlawful rulings or are under investigation in graft cases.
