The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine has in recent days accused the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office of blocking a bribery case against Central Election Commission Chairman Mykhailo Okhendovsky – despite a court having ruled that the case must be resumed.
The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office denied the accusations.
However, in April the NABU published audio recordings in which Chief Anti-Corruption Prosecutor Nazar Kholodnytsky is heard pressuring prosecutors and judges to block corruption cases. He has confirmed that the tapes are authentic but denies any wrongdoing.
Okhendovsky case
In 2016 the NABU charged Okhendovsky with receiving bribes worth $100,000 in 2010 and $61,000 in 2012 from former President Viktor Yanukovych’s Party of Regions. His name features in the party’s alleged off-the-book ledgers.
Reanimation Package of Reform experts have accused Kholodnytsky of blocking the charges for Okhendovsky for months before they were finally brought.
Courts have released Okhendovsky without bail and refused to arrest or suspend him as head of the Central Election Commission as part of what critics see as a sign of the judiciary’s corruption and political subservience.
In June 2017 the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office suspended the case, claiming it was waiting for documents from abroad. Sytnyk said that he disagreed with Kholodnytsky’s decision, and that the Okhendovsky case should have been sent to trial.
On April 3, a court canceled Kholodnytsky’s decision to suspend the case.
Recent standoff
Following the court decision, Sytnyk said in a May 7 interview with the RBC Ukraine news site that the NABU would “insist that the charges (against Okhendovsky) be brought again and that the case be sent to trial.”
A forensic examination confirmed that Okhendovsky’s signature in the black ledger is authentic, and the fact that he received money on his bankcard account on the same day has also been confirmed, Sytnyk added.
The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office on May 8 lashed out at Sytnyk, saying it was “outraged” by his words that the NABU would insist on sending the Okhendovsky case to trial. The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office claimed that the NABU was lying to society and aimed to politicize the case.
Anti-corruption prosecutors also claimed that German and French authorities had rejected the NABU’s requests regarding Okhendovsky because they had found no crime in his trips to their countries, which were allegedly financed with the Party of Region’s money. The office also claimed that Austria said it had also found no crime in Okhendovsky’s trips.
The NABU replied on May 8 that the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office was spreading false information about the requests.
In fact, French authorities requested additional information, and the NABU provided it, while German authorities said that they were still considering the NABU’s request, the NABU said.
German, French and Austrian authorities could not immediately comment on the issue.
Other accusations
Meanwhile, Oleksandr Onyshchenko, a fugitive lawmaker charged with embezzlement, has claimed that Okhendovsky had registered him as a candidate for parliament despite his violation of residency rules in 2014 after he paid $6 million to President Petro Poroshenko’s party. Okhendovsky and Poroshenko deny the claim.
The authority of Okhendovsky, formerly a Yanukovych ally, and 11 other members of the 15-member Central Election Commission expired in 2014, but parliament passed a law to extend their powers until new members are appointed. Okhendovsky’s critics argue that his commission is illegitimate and accuse Poroshenko of using Okhendovsky to promote his political goals.
Poroshenko and the Verkhovna Rada have failed to replace Okhendovsky and other members since 2014, which some lawyers believe to be illegal.
“Poroshenko has failed to fulfill his constitutional duties,” Yulia Kyrychenko, a legal expert at the Reanimation Package of Reforms, told the Kyiv Post. “He’s intentionally dragging his feet to control the commission.”
In 2016 Okhendovsky approved the Verkhovna Rada’s decision to expel lawmaker Yegor Firsov, a critic of President Petro Poroshenko and his allies, from parliament. Critics accused the Poroshenko Bloc and the Central Election Commission of numerous legal and procedural violations.
In 2004 Okhendovsky, then a member of the Central Election Commission, defended the commission’s position at the Supreme Court, which ruled that a presidential election had been rigged by the commission in favor of Yanukovych. Okhendovsky denies the accusations.
Okhendovsky has also been accused of doing nothing to prevent or punish voting fraud and vote buying in numerous elections after 2014.
Kholodnytsky scandal
Meanwhile, the NABU on April 4 released audio recordings in which Kholodnytsky is heard pressuring anti-corruption prosecutors and courts to stall cases, urging a witness to give false testimony, and tipping off suspects about future searches.
Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko has asked the High Qualification and Disciplinary Commission of Prosecutors to fire Kholodnytsky for violating rules of prosecutorial ethics, but the commission has so far failed to make a decision on the issue.
Sytnyk has asked the Prosecutor General’s Office to bring criminal charges against Kholodnytsky. No charges have been brought so far, however, in what critics see as an effort to save Kholodnytsky – a political loyalist of the authorities.
