Editor’s Note: This is the start of a periodic series “Justice Delayed, Justice Denied” looking at criminal cases stalled in courts and investigations not conducted despite evidence of crime and corruption.
Below is a list of some of the top corruption cases that have been stalled by Ukraine’s corrupt and politicized judiciary.
Oleksandr Avakov
Interior Minister Arsen Avakov’s son Oleksandr is accused of embezzling Hr 14 million in a case related to the supply of overpriced backpacks to the Interior Ministry. He was arrested by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine in October and released by a court without bail.
In December, a court returned Oleksandr Avakov’s passport and took off his electronic bracelet and Ukrainska Pravda reported that he was allowed to spend his Christmas holidays in Italy. Moreover, the freeze on his assets was canceled by a court in the same month.
The case has not been sent to trial yet.
Ihor Pavlovsky
Deputy Defense Minister Ihor Pavlovsky and the head of the ministry’s procurement department, Volodymyr Hulyevych, are suspected of embezzling Hr 149 million through the purchase of fuel at inflated prices.
Lawmaker Oleksandr Hranovsky, a top ally of President Petro Poroshenko, has also been accused of being involved in the scheme, although he denies the charges.
Pavlovsky and Hulyevych were arrested by the NABU in October. Courts placed them under house arrest but released Pavlovsky in November. The case has not been sent to trial yet.
Mykola Martynenko
Mykola Martynenko, an ex-lawmaker from the People’s Front party and an influential powerbroker, has been charged with organized crime and embezzling $17 million during uranium ore sales to the state-owned Eastern Ore Dressing Plant. He was arrested by the NABU in April and released by a court without bail.
In August a court allowed Martynenko to travel beyond Kyiv Oblast. Earlier in January the investigation against him was completed, and the case is expected to be sent to trial.
Roman Nasirov
State Fiscal Service Chief Roman Nasirov is accused of abusing his power by illegally allowing participants of an alleged corrupt scheme at gas producer Ukrgazvydobuvannya to delay tax payments, causing losses to the state of Hr 2 billion. He was arrested in March and released by a court on Hr 100 million bail.
In April a court ruled to return Nasirov’s passport to him. The case was sent to trial in December, and the next hearing is scheduled for Jan. 19.
Nasirov has been suspended but not fired. Finance Minister Oleksandr Danylyuk on Jan. 18 asked the Cabinet of Ministers to fire him.
Viktor Yanukovych
Only one top official who served under ex-President Viktor Yanukovych — ex-Justice Minister Oleksandr Lavrynovych — is currently on trial for graft.
Not a single of the in-absentia corruption cases against Yanukovych and his top officials and not a single in-absentia case against the organizers of the police sniper murders of more than 100 protesters during the EuroMaidan Revolution have been sent to trial. Yanukovych and almost all of his top officials have been taken off Interpol’s wanted list.
In March the Prosecutor General’s Office confiscated $1.5 billion in an alleged corruption scheme run by Yanukovych and his ally Serhiy Kurchenko. The ruling was classified as secret, although lawyer Vitaly Tytych believes it is illegal to make any court ruling secret.
The secret ruling was published by Al Jazeera on Jan. 10. According to the decision, Poroshenko’s personal banker Makar Paseniuk and his former central bank chief Valeria Hontareva brokered for the offshore firms involved in the graft scheme. They deny any wrongdoing but their possible involvement in the graft scheme has not been investigated.
Lawyers and anti-corruption activists have argued that the ruling does not contain any evidence or legal grounds for the confiscation, and may result in Ukrainian authorities returning the confiscated funds to the offshore firms that held them.
The Prosecutor General’s Office also closed an embezzlement case against Yanukovych’s Ecology Minister Mykola Zlochevsky in January 2017, and in February concluded plea bargains with Oleksandr Katsuba, the former deputy head of oil and gas firm Naftogaz, Andriy Holovach, an ex-deputy head of the tax agency, and former Deputy Economy Minister Oleksandr Sukhomlyn. Katsuba, Holovach and Sukhomlyn were given suspended sentences and paid certain amounts to the budget.
The content of the plea bargains is unclear because they have been made secret, in violation of the law, Tytych said, adding that the sums the officials paid to the state under the deals are far less than the losses incurred.
