The state of martial law, introduced by us upon submission by the President in November for one month, ended on Dec. 26. Unfortunately, as I feared, Petro Poroshenko as the Supreme Commander did not take advantage of it to arrest Russian agents like Viktor Medvedchuk or to restrict Russia’s control over the Ukrainian mobile communications, an essential part of the banking system and industry. Eventually, nothing has gone beyond the level of television publicity. Petro Poroshenko was constantly featured in TV news at the background of various types of troops. Additionally, some reservist training took place and that’s all.
Even the revelation by journalists, which had occurred more than a month ago, that there was evidence of illicit enrichment and relations with Russia of the First Deputy Chairman of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine Serhiy Semochko did bring about even his suspension from the office. The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) confirmed though that his wife held Russian citizenship, which she had acquired after the occupation of the Crimea, where the whole Semochko’s family originally from.
Meanwhile, Russia continues to disguise its agents of influence. Russia has included in the new sanctions list Ukrainian MPs Borys Kolesnikov, Vadym Novynskyi, Oleksandr Vilkul and Mykhailo Dobkin.
There is no doubt that the mentioned politicians, who have been long advocating the important decisions in favour of Russia, remain in its orbit. The explanation is simple – in the circumstances of Ukraine’s population changing attitude towards Russia, which 52 percent of Ukrainians regard as an unfriendly country, Russia has begun reforming its ‘fifth column’.
A part of this group, headed by Rinat Akhmetov, will proceed under the Ukrainian flag. It is symbolic that the frontman of this group, Mr.Akhmetov’s protege Oleksandr Vilkul, began speaking Ukrainian in the Parliament. Additionally, this group refused to join the union “Opposition Platform – For Life”, by contrast to the majority of remnants of the former President Viktor Yanukovych’s team, who continue to openly declare their pro-Russian views. The frontrunner of this union for the voters will be Yuriy Boyko, but the actual leader – the mentioned Mr. Medvedchuk.
According to a recent survey by the sociological group Rating, Mrs.Tymoshenko continues to lead with the support of 20.8 percent.
On Anti-Corruption Court
On Dec. 13, the High Qualifications Commission of Judges of Ukraine handed over to the Public Council of International Experts the files of 153 candidates for the positions of judges in the High Anti-Corruption Court and its Appellate Chamber.
Let me remind that the Public Council of International Experts has the right to veto any indecent candidate. The success of the whole undertaking will depend on its principled stance.
The decision on the winners of the competition to the Anti-Corruption Court shall be announced in February.
On NABU and SAPO
The Court of Appeals of Kyiv overturned the SAPO’s decision to close the case on intended failure to declare assets committed by an MP of Popular Front Party Denys Dzenzerskyi. Now the SAPO chairman, Nazar Kholodnytskyi, is to appoint new prosecutors in the Dzenzerskyi’s case. The decision was contested by the VTB-Bank, to which the MP was indebted $280 million.
Pavlo Zhebrivskyi, who had been appointed an auditor of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau by President Poroshenko, submitted resignation. The auditors controlled by the President did not manage to get the promised salary and office they were counting on. They were not ready to work pro bono. This evidences that, at least for the time being, Mr. Poroshenko decided not to organize an ordered audit that could lead to the dismissal of Artem Sytnyk.
On Dec. 11, the District Administrative Court of Kyiv declared unlawful and revoked the earlier decision to suspend from office the former chairman of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine Roman Nasirov. The latter is accused of abuse of office and forgery and was dismissed from his position by Cabinet of Ministers.
The National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) could not find illicit assets of the currently tried prosecutor Kostiantyn Kulyk. The NABU and SAPO accuse Konstiantyn Kulyk, the military prosecutor of the Anti-Terrorist Operation forces, of illicit enrichment. As of now, Mr. Kulyk is the Deputy Head of the Department of International Legal Cooperation of the Prosecutor General’s Office. The decision by the NACP will allow Mr. Kulyk to have a stronger case before the court in the proceeding which has been deliberately delayed by the judges and the defendant from October 2016. Since then, Mr. Kulyk has been promoted by Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko and awarded with an Order from President Poroshenko.
The indictment against an SSU counterintelligence officer Oleksandr Karamushka, who had been caught by the NABU on a bribe of $47.5 thousand, was submitted to the court. He used to extort bribes from foreigners for citizenship or residence permits.
The prosecutors of the [Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office have completed the reading out of the indictment against the Mayor of Odesa Hennadiy Trukhanov and seven other persons charged with embezzlement of Hr 185 million from the local budget. Moreover, Mr. Trukhanov is notorious throughout the country for a Russian passport and a wave of assassination attempts against activists who oppose his abuses in Odesa.
Investigative journalists’ reports on top-corruption
The journalists of the program “Our Money with Denys Bihus” revealed that the former head of the State Fiscal Service Myroslav Prodan registered an apartment worth almost $200 thousand to his sister. I would like to remind that Mr.Prodan is suspected by the SAPO of illicit enrichment, in particular, of the acquisition of elite real estate in Turkey.
Additionally, this investigative program showed how the Ministry of Justice, headed by a representative of the Popular Front Party Pavlo Petrenko, helped Mykola Martynenko, one of his party’s sponsors, to invalidate the key economic examination in the case by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau on Mr.Martynenko’s embezzlement of Hr 695 million at state enterprises. Now Mr.Martynenko is released on bail by Ihor Zhdanov, the Minister of Youth and Sports, Andriy Mahera, the Central Election Commission’s Deputy Chairman and 18 MPs from the Popular Front Party.
Activists
Within the framework of the collective security system “ProtectYou”, I began using the parliamentary rostrum to represent activists who are endangered due to their activities. The idea of the project is to protect the principled citizens BEFORE rather than after the attacks. We warn potential attackers that activists are not alone. For the first month, 51 public activists have reached out to us for support.
7 volunteers of the war with Russia – 6 Ukrainian citizens and 1 Georgian – were detained in Georgia. They were accused of storing weapons under their pillows at the hotel!. Three of them are persecuted in Ukraine upon trumped-up charges by Minister of Interior Arsen Avakov and Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko, who, probably, circulated a part of misinformation among their Georgian counterparts. For its part, Georgia’s current leadership also favours the idea of showing ‘Ukrainian snipers’ who ‘were brought in for bloody provocations’ by Mikheil Saakashvili after the presidential elections. This is evidenced by the fact that the official representatives of Ukraine not only failed to visit the detained Ukrainian citizens immediately but also began spreading false information.
