First Deputy Prosecutor General Volodymyr Huzyr folded under mounting public pressure on July 28, resigning after evidence emerged that he tried to foil a crackdown on corruption.
However,
critics say that the move changed nothing, arguing that Huzyr’s replacement,
Yury Sevruk, is a protégé of his, and that Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin and
another of his deputies, Yury Stolyarchuk, kept their jobs despite both also
being accused of trying to scupper anti-corruption efforts. Shokin and Huzyr have denied the accusations.
In what
appeared to be a face-saving gesture, Shokin announced on July 28 that Kyiv’s
Pechersky Court had authorized a trial in absentia for ousted President Viktor
Yanukovych. Critics said the measure comes too late and that Shokin has been
dragging his feet on corruption cases against Yanukovych and his allies far too
long.
Moreover,
none of the indictments in corruption investigations against Yanukovych or any
of his allies have been sent to court yet.
The Prosecutor
General’s Office did not reply to an e-mailed request for comment, while Andrei
Demartino, a spokesman for the office, said by phone the Kyiv Post can ask
Sevruk for comment at a news briefing scheduled for July 29.
The public
uproar over Shokin, Huzyr and Stolyarchuk began after Mustafa Nayyem and Serhiy
Leshchenko, lawmakers from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, said earlier this month
that the three top prosecutors had been pressuring deputy prosecutor generals
David Sakvarelidze and Vitaly Kasko to halt a corruption case.
Sakvarelidze
and Kasko later said the leadership of the Prosecutor General’s Office had
started two criminal cases against investigators who are subordinate to them
and are in charge of the bribery case against two prosecutors. The prosecutors, Volodymyr Shapakin and Oleksandr Korniyets,
were arrested on July 6 by Sakvarelidze’s investigators along with some
$500,000 in cash, 65 diamonds and certificates of deposit worth Hr 800,000.
On July 28,
the AutoMaidan car-based protest group published a video of Korniets’ luxury
house. They said it could be worth about Hr 10 million.
Prosecutor Oleksandr Korniets’ luxury estate, according to AutoMaidan.
Since the
corruption scandal broke out, lawmakers have been collecting signatures for
Shokin’s dismissal. So far, 106
lawmakers’ signatures have been collected, while 150 are necessary to put the
issue on Parliament’s agenda.
Vitaly
Shabunin, head of the Anti-Corruption Center’s executive board, told the Kyiv
Post that Huzyr’s resignation was “an obvious attempt to save Shokin.”
Karl Volokh,
an activist of the Civic Lustration Committee, wrote on Facebook that “the resignation
of a
person who’s the epitome of prosecutorial corruption and lawlessness is good.”
But he added that Shokin and Stolyarchuk should also have been sacked.
Shabunin and
Volokh said that Sevruk was a Shokin protégé. They also said they were checking
unconfirmed media reports that Sevruk was subject to the lustration law, which
stipulates the firing of Yanukovych-era officials.
“(Huzyr and
Sevruk) have worked together for many years at the Prosecutor General’s
Office,” Shabunin said. “They are good old friends.”
Sevruk was
previously head of the Prosecutor General’s Office’s department for oversight
over criminal investigations, while Huzyr headed the criminal investigation
department.
“It’s an old
scheme called ‘avatar’, when under public pressure an official resigns – but
he’s replaced by a protégé of his,” Shabunin said.
Volokh
claimed that Sevruk had also been close to Viktor Pshonka, who was prosecutor
general under ousted President Viktor Yanukovych.
He also said
he resented the fact that Sevruk had been promoted instead of Sakvarelidze and
Kasko.
“Nothing
changed in the status (of Kasko and Sakvarelidze) – they still have minimal
powers,” Volokh said. “Moreover, they are sitting on the powder keg of Shokin’s
revenge, along with their subordinates. That is, overall this rotten agency
will not change.”
Observers
also argue that firing Huzyr is an insufficient measure and that his alleged
violations should also be investigated.
“I’m sick
and tired of people being fired instead of being held responsible,” Shabunin
said. “The purpose is not to punish but to cool public indignation.”
Hanna Hopko,
a lawmaker from the Samopomich party, said by phone that the authorities should
investigate the alleged involvement of Huzyr and Stolyarchuk in the corruption
of which Korniets and Shapakin are accused. “Do you think Huzyr was not aware?”
she said. “They should investigate how this became possible.”
Nayyem wrote
earlier in July that Korniets and Shapakin were proteges of Shokin and Huzyr.
The
authorities should also look into allegations that Huzyr covered up violations
at oil firm BRSM-Nafta, Hopko said.
In June, the
Prosecutor General’s Office halted a case against an ex-top prosecutor for allegedly
covering up supposed violations at BRSM-Nafta that led to a gigantic fire at an
oil depot near Kyiv last month. The investigation was stopped after the
dismissal of Security Service head Valentyn Nalivachenko, who had accused
prosecutors of running a protection racket for BRSM-Nafta.
Huzyr has
been accused of preventing the BRSM-Nafta investigation. The company’s office
is located in a building owned by Huzyr’s son-in-law Ilya Rafalovsky, according
to investigative journalist Dmytro Gnap.
“(Huzyr’s)
resignation itself without a real investigation of violations and punishment is
a very small step,” Hopko said.
Huzyr has also been accused of nepotism. His nephew Oleksandr Avramenko is a deputy of Kyiv’s top prosecutor, while his son Dmytro is a prosecutor at the international affairs department of the Prosecutor General’s Office.
Kyiv Post
staff writer Oleg Sukhov can be reached at [email protected].
