Zelensky initiates liquidation of the notorious Kyiv District Administrative Court
President Volodymyr Zelensky initiated the liquidation of the notorious Kyiv District Administrative Court. According to the analysis of the submitted draft laws, the KDAC shall cease its work and it must transfer all cases within 10 working days to the regional administrative court, which will consider them until the establishment of a new court. Liquidation also means loss of powers for the KDAC’s judges, but they will not be automatically dismissed and will retain the status of judges until they pass qualification vetting. The move to liquidate the KDAC is supported by the leading CSOs in the field of anti-corruption and judiciary.
MPs want to weaken anti-money laundering regulation of politically exposed persons
On April 14, the financial committee of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, recommended draft law No. 4218 for the voting in the first reading. The draft law envisages amending anti-money laundering legislation by limiting the term of determining politically exposed persons for one year after dismissal. This will destroy financial control over operations of top officials. The draft law was initiated by Sergiy Vlasenko, a member of parliament with ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s 24-member Batkivshchyna faction.
Parliament secretly changes the law on Constitutional Court to greenlight political appointees
On April 14, parliament adopted new requirements for the position of a judge of the Consitution Court. For now, the appointee has to relinquish the powers of being a member of parliament only after the appointment to the position, not prior to it (e.g., prior voting in the parliament). The respective provisions were secretly added to draft law No.4535 regulating the status of the village heads. Allegedly, it was done to allow the appointment of a member of parliament, Olha Sovhyria, for the vacant position of Constitutional Court judge.
Investigation of Rotterdam+ case has been restored
Maksym Gryshchuk, deputy head of the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, for the second time revoked the decision of prosecutor Vitalii Ponomarenko to close the case Rotterdam+. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine once again called on Prosecutor Genral Iryna Venediktova to replace Ponomarenko in the case as a leading prosecutor because he shows bias, refuses to move forward with indictments and blocks further investigation. According to the NABU, the case is ready to be transferred to the court for a trial.
