Interpol said on May 3 that ex-President Viktor Yanukovych, his chief of staff Andriy Klyuyev and his Energy Minister Eduard Stavytsky had been removed from its wanted list in corruption cases due to the allegedly political character of the cases.
The agency also refused to issue a wanted notice for fugitive lawmaker Oleksandr Onyshchenko, a suspect in an embezzlement case. Onyshchenko is from the Volya Narodu (People’s Will) faction in parliament, one of the offshoots of Yanukovych’s fallen Party of Regions.
Last year Interpol also removed from its wanted list Yuriy Ivanyushchenko, an ex-lawmaker and associate of Yanukovych.
Interpol’s apparent lack of trust in Ukrainian justice comes in line with no progress having been made in Yanukovych-era corruption cases over the three years since the former president fled Ukraine.
Only one minor graft case against a top Yanukovych-era official, ex-Justice Minister Oleksandr Lavrynovych, has been sent to trial.
Critics argue that Ukrainian authorities have done their best to obstruct these cases. The Prosecutor General’s Office denied accusations of sabotage on May 4, saying it would solve the problems linked to the wanted list.
The removal of several Yanukovych allies from Interpol’s wanted list may lead to the lifting next year of European Union sanctions against them, including asset freezes, and the impossibility to convict them in absentia.
In March, the European Union also removed sanctions imposed on Ivanyushchenko.
Meanwhile, Kyiv’s Obolon court on May 4 started hearing a high treason case against Yanukovych. The hearing was portrayed by Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko as a sign of progress in the investigations. Yanukovych is accused of urging Russia to invade Ukraine in 2014, and prosecutors requested a life sentence for him.
Lawyers including Vitaly Tytych, who represents the families of the murdered EuroMaidan protesters, have dismissed the case as lacking substance and a public relations stunt.
Confiscation of assets
Another decision that Lutsenko hailed as a great victory was a ruling by a court in the city of Kramatorsk in Donetsk Oblast in March to confiscate money and state bonds worth $1.5 billion linked to Yanukovych’s regime.
However, the ruling was widely criticized as a public relations stunt that has nothing to do with the rule of law.
The confiscation ruling was part of a corruption case against Arkady Kashkin, the nominal owner of a firm linked to tycoon Serhiy Kurchenko, an associate of Yanukovych.
The case against Kashkin was dismissed by critics as summary justice and a political show trial. It was opened on March 15, and he was convicted in just two weeks, on March 28, after secret court hearings.
Some lawyers and politicians, including lawmaker Sergii Leshchenko, argued that the court had no jurisdiction over Yanukovych cases.
Lutsenko’s opponents said that the money confiscated has nothing to do with Kurchenko’s firms. The funds had been frozen in a different criminal case in which ex-Deputy Prime Minister Serhiy Arbuzov was charged with embezzling state funds during the creation of a television channel.
The beneficiaries of the firms have not been determined officially, and Cyprus, where they are based, has not yet given data on the beneficiaries.
Closed cases
Last year Spain also refused to extradite ex-Finance Minister Yuriy Kolobov due to a lack of trust in Ukrainian law enforcement, impeding the investigation into a related graft case against Yanukovych.
The kidnapping case against Kharkiv Mayor Gennady Kernes, an ex-ally of Yanukovych, has seen no progress whatsoever since 2014.
Ukrainian authorities are also accused of obstructing the investigations against Yanukovych’s regime by closing graft cases against ex-Ecology Minister Mykola Zlochevsky, Yanukovych’s Deputy Chief of Staff Andriy Portnov and Ivanyushchenko.
Zlochevsky paid Hr 180 million (about $6.9 million) as part of a plea bargain with prosecutors last year.
The Prosecutor General’s Office has also struck controversial plea bargains with Oleksandr Katsuba, a suspect in an embezzlement case involving lawmaker Yury Boiko, ex-Deputy Economy Minister Oleksandr Sukhomlyn and several low-level suspects.
Backstage dealings
The plea bargains have been criticized because they have not been made public, and their conditions are unclear.
“It’s a way to let top corrupt officials and criminals escape justice,” Leshchenko said. “In Katsuba’s case, it’s Boiko.”
Daria Kaleniuk, executive director of the Anti-Corruption Action Center, argued that “Zlochevsky’s plea bargain became a semi-legal bribe that he paid to escape justice.”
“Lutsenko and Co. appear to have reached a deal with Yanukovych’s entourage that they won’t dispute the decision (on asset confiscation) in exchange for something else — for example, removing them from the wanted list and the closure of some criminal cases,” she said.
According to claims by exiled lawmaker Onyshchenko and a person alleged to be ex-lawmaker Mykola Martynenko who features in Onyshchenko’s audio recordings, President Petro Poroshenko has extorted money from Zlochevsky and Yanukovych’s major sponsor Rinat Akhmetov for unfreezing their assets. Poroshenko has denied the allegations, while Martynenko has confirmed meeting with Onyshchenko.
Yanukovych’s former chief of staff Serhiy Lyovochkin and his associate Dmytro Firtash have escaped prosecution altogether despite numerous corruption accusations. Firtash has not been charged in a single criminal case in Ukraine despite being a suspect in several graft investigations in the United States and in Spain.
Lutsenko has also been accused of helping Yanukovych allies and incumbent officials escape justice for political reasons by taking away last year most graft cases from the in absentia department of Serhiy Horbatiuk, who is deemed to be independent.
Runaways
At least 21 top associates of Yanukovych accused of corruption and the murder of over 100 EuroMaidan protesters fled in 2014. At least five Yanukovych allies also fled Ukraine in 2015 to 2016.
Meanwhile, in 2014 to 2017, 27 former Berkut officers charged with murdering and abusing EuroMaidan protesters also escaped.
Many of the in absentia corruption and murder cases against fugitive Yanukovych-era officials cannot be sent to trial because Ukrainian authorities have so far failed to pass in absentia legislation that complies with international law.
Several cases against Yanukovych-era officials are not at odds with international law and could have been sent to trial, but this has not happened yet.
These include cases against Yanukovych, ex-Health Minister Raisa Bohatyryova, ex-Deputy Tax and Revenue Minister Andriy Ihnatov, ex-Deputy Health Minister Oleksandr Stashchenko and ex-Tax Minister Oleksandr Klymenko. In 2015 to 2016 courts permitted in absentia trials against them.
These cases are facing obstacles because of expiring deadlines, court decisions to return cases to prosecutors and Cyprus’ refusal to disclose relevant firms’ beneficiaries, Horbatiuk said.
