Reformer of the week –Tetiana Kozachenko
Tetiana Kozachenko stepped down on Nov. 21 as head of the Justice Ministry’s lustration department, which is in charge of firing top officials who served ex-President Viktor Yanukovych.
Kozachenko’s resignation follows an exodus earlier this year of at least 22 other top reformers, some of whom cited sabotage of reforms by the authorities as their reason for quitting. Top reformers who have quit include Odesa Oblast Governor Mikheil Saakashvili, Odesa Oblast Customs Chief Yulia Marushevska, and National Police Chief Khatia Dekanoidze.
According to a report filed by Kozachenko before her resignation, State Fiscal Service Chief Roman Nasirov is the top saboteur of lustration: 14 Yanukovych-era officials still remain at his agency, which has also failed to fire a single top official subject to lustration due to their ill-gotten wealth.
President Petro Poroshenko has refused to fire Kirovohrad Oblast Governor Serhiy Kuzmenko under lustration, without explaining the reasons, and also illegally appointed two other Yanukovych-era officials: his deputy chief of staff Oleksiy Dniprov, and Luhansk Oblast Governor Yuriy Harbuz, the report said.
The Prosecutor General’s Office has failed to appeal against questionable and controversial court rulings exempting from lustration top prosecutors Oleh Valendyuk, Maksim Melnychenko and Oleksandr Tkachenko. Meanwhile, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Interior Ministry have refused to fire under the lustration law the SBU’s top investigator, Grigory Ostafiychuk, and Ukraine’s Interpol bureau chief, Vasyl Nevolya, respectively. The officials and agencies involved have denied accusations of sabotaging the lustration law.
Anti-reformer of the week – Oleksiy Takhtai
Oleksiy Takhtai, formerly a deputy of Interior Minister Arsen Avakov and his chief of staff, was appointed as the Interior Ministry’s state secretary on Nov. 23.
Persons resembling Takhtai, who is an ex-official of ex-President Viktor Yanukovych’s administration, and ex-Deputy Interior Minister Serhiy Chebotar, an ex-deputy of Avakov, were seen negotiating a corrupt deal to sell sand in video footage shot by the Security Service of Ukraine and leaked on the Internet last year. Investigators have so far failed to file notices of suspicion on either of the men.
Takhtai 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 appointment followed the Nov. 14 resignation of reformist National Police Chief Khatia Dekanoidze, who later mentioned political interference by Avakov and President Petro Poroshenko, a lack of authority to bring about change, and the authorities’ failure to root out corruption. The Presidential Administration, which could not comment immediately, also imposed on the National Police the candidacy of Anton Shevtsov as Vinnytsa Oblast Police Chief, Dekanoidze said. Shevtsov was fired in March after evidence of his pro-Russian views emerged.
Dekanoidze said on Nov. 17 that only 5,656 police officers, or 4.8 percent of those subject to vetting, had been fired as part of efforts to oust corrupt and unprofessional officers. Of those, many could have been reinstated by the courts, and the ministry has even refused to publish the names of those dismissed during vetting.
Fears are also rising about the failure to punish Berkut riot police officers. One Berkut officer suspected of killing EuroMaidan protesters was released by a court on Nov. 15, while another Berkut officer accused of murder has remained in the police after the revolution and has been praised by Anton Gerashchenko, an Avakov aide.
Avakov, who faces several corruption investigations, is also pushing for anti-reformist legislation that would ban citizens from disobeying illegal actions by the police, and would expand officers’ ability to use force against citizens.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet on Nov. 23 adopted a regulation that would enable graduates of police academies to compete for jobs at the Supreme Court in what critics see an effort by Avakov to influence the judiciary.
Interior Ministry spokesman Artem Shevchenko did not respond to a request for comment.
