Artem Sytnyk, head of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, on Jan. 31 said that the bureau’s efforts are being thwarted by the High Council of Justice and National Agency for Preventing Corruption.
The bureau is seen as more independent, while the High Council of Justice and the National Agency for Preventing Corruption have been accused of being dependent on President Petro Poroshenko and the People’s Front party, which they deny.
The High Council of Justice has denied Sytnyk’s accusations, while the National Agency for Preventing Corruption declined to comment.
Declaration saga
“The National Anti-Corruption Bureau still has no access to the National Agency for Preventing Corruption’s register of (officials’ electronic asset) declarations – technical issues are being resolved,” Sytnyk said at a news briefing.
Sytnyk also said that the National Agency for Preventing Corruption had refused to use the bureau’s resources for checking declarations.
The bureau has been seeking to obtain access to electronic declarations ever since they were launched last September. Some of e-declaration data is publicly available, while the rest is restricted to certain government agencies.
The agency and the bureau on Jan. 13 agreed on cooperation and on joint access to the declaration system.
The National Agency for Preventing Corruption has so far failed to check a single e-declaration since September and has been accused of intentionally sabotaging the process.
Previously it had also been accused of blocking the launch of the declaration system, which it denied.
One obstacle for the agency’s failure to check declarations is that the rules for such checks have not been approved yet. The Justice Ministry on Jan. 19 refused to register the agency’s draft rules, saying that they set indefinite terms for inspections and did not include looking into unlawful enrichment and conflicts of interest.
Due to the agency’s inability to begin inspections, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau has begun to look into e-declarations on its own. So far, it has opened 25 criminal cases into the declarations.
Instead of checking declarations, the National Agency for Preventing Corruption has focused on launching two administrative cases against an opponent of Poroshenko, lawmaker Sergii Leshchenko. He believes them to be politically motivated.
Corrupt judges
Sytnyk also lashed at the High Council of Justice, which has been accused of helping corrupt judges escape justice.
Last September constitutional amendments on judicial reform came into effect, making it possible to detain judges in the act of committing a crime.
After the constitutional changes took effect, courts first regularly arrested judges without seeking the High Council of Justice’s approval.
However, the council on Jan. 17 issued a statement saying that, while judges can be arrested in the act of committing a crime, they have to be subsequently released unless the council authorizes an arrest warrant for them. The council argued it would strengthen judges’ independence.
Civic activists argue that this statement contradicts the Constitution and will lead to corrupt judges fleeing since courts will have to release them when the 3-day detention deadline expires. The council has to decide on approving an arrest warrant for a judge within five days.
As a result, two judges accused of corruption were released earlier this month. The High Council of Justice argued that the National Anti-Corruption Bureau had not asked for its approval for their arrest.
“We believe it’s an attempt to destroy the judicial reform that we’re launching now,” Sytnyk said. “These actions are unacceptable and discredit the reform.”
