Tymofiy Mylovanov, the former economy minister and currently a top aide to President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, hurled expletives at the International Monetary Fund, accusing it of obstructing negotiations with Ukraine.
The IMF mission concluded on Feb. 13 that Ukraine needs to show more progress on several reform fronts — from the judiciary to the anti-corruption fight to the independence of the central bank — before it can get another installment of a $5 billion credit line. Disbursement was frozen at $2.1 billion last year. The Ukrainian government had hopes of getting a $700 million tranche by March.
The IMF declined to comment, while the President’s Office did not respond to requests for comment.
Mylovanov, who advises chief of staff Andriy Yermak, has been lashing out at the IMF on Facebook for several days. He also said the negotiations had been suspended due to disagreements over judicial reform. Criticizing the IMF in comments on Facebook, Mylovanov used a phrase that can be translated as “fucked up.”
One commenter sent a message to Mylovanov: “You fucked it up with the IMF.”
Mylovanov responded: “It’s the IMF that fucked it up, not Ukraine if we look at it honestly.”
He also said that disagreements with the IMF about the High Council of Justice, the judiciary’s highest governing body, prevented the sides from reaching an agreement. According to Ukraine’s memorandum with the IMF, Ukraine was supposed to create a commission including foreign experts to fire tainted members of the High Council of Justice if they violate ethics and integrity standards. The IMF’s October deadline has been missed.
“We have an issue about the High Council of Justice – who will control it,” Milovanov wrote in a reference to talks with the IMF. “And the sides have very different positions. And it’s impossible to do some things that they want to do. That’s why the sides are procrastinating.”
Vitaly Shabunin, head of the Anti-Corruption Action Center’s executive board, also wrote on Facebook that the Ukrainian authorities were against the IMF’s position that foreign experts should have a decisive role in choosing a new head of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine.
Discredited council
The High Council of Justice was involved in numerous corruption scandals and is known for appointing tainted judges.
In September, the council unanimously refused to suspend notorious judge Pavlo Vovk, head of the Kyiv District Administrative Court, who faces charges of organized crime, abuse of power, bribery, and unlawful interference with government officials. Vovk denied the accusations.
The council’s members are allegedly implicated in the Vovk case. In wiretapped conversations released by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, Vovk mentioned the involvement of Andrii Ovsiienko, head of the High Council of Justice, along with other council members in his alleged corruption schemes.
Council members did not respond to a request for comment.
On Feb. 13, Zelensky announced he would submit a bill introducing a mandatory integrity check of current and future members of the High Council of Justice, a body that nominates judges to be appointed by the president. Zelensky proposes to launch a separate unit within the council, a secretariat called the Service of Disciplinary Inspectors, that would vet the candidates’ integrity.
The bill was submitted to parliament on Feb. 15. However, the text has not been published yet, and it’s not clear if foreign experts will be involved in the cleansing of the council.
Mylovanov served as minister in Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk’s government, ousted on March 4, 2020. He is the president of the Kyiv School of Economics.
