The Ukrainian parliament has approved a controversial list of people who will choose the next special anti-corruption prosecutor.
Opponents of this selection, including the European Parliament, warned that the list includes unqualified people and that Ukraine risks losing 1.5 billion euros in financial assistance and its visa-free regime with Europe as a result.
“While international community is occupied with #Belarus, #Ukraine government is hastily pushing candidates lacking experience & integrity to select #SAPO head. This will not fly,” European Parliament member Viola von Cramon wrote on Twitter.
The Special Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) is an independent part of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine. Its job is to oversee criminal investigations launched by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU). The office’s effectiveness and independence are a major condition for cooperation with Europe.
The selection committee consists of 11 people, seven chosen by parliament and four chosen by the council of prosecutors, which has already decided on its delegates.
The Servant of the People party nominated Vyacheslav Navrotsky, a professor at Ukrainian Catholic University and Lviv State University of Internal Affairs; Oleksiy Drozd, head of of the department of doctorate and adjunct studies at the National University of Internal Affairs;
and Yevhen Sobol head of the state and legal disciplines department at the Central State Pedagogical University.
Opposition Platform – For Life nominated Andriy Gudjal, managing partner of the GuDeG lawyers’ association, who was reportedly investigated as part of anti-corruption probes.
The party For the Future nominated Kateryna Koval, deputy chair of the Union of Lawyers of Ukraine; and Elena Aist, head of the legal disciplines department at the Tavriysky National University.
And the Dovira faction nominated Bohdan Romanyuk, a professor at the National Transport University.
A total of 239 lawmakers voted in favor of the group, including those from Servant of the People, Opposition Platform, For the Future, Dovira and unaligned deputies.
The Voice, European Solidarity and Batkivshchyna parties voted against. Voice lawmakers complained that the commission includes people who have defended corruption and were unable to explain the sources of their wealth.
The Anti-Corruption Action Center non-governmental organization also told the Kyiv Post that the parliament’s candidates do not appear trustworthy.
The new special anti-corruption prosecutor selected by the commission will replace outgoing Nazar Kholodnytsky, a controversial figure who was accused of failing to prosecute corruption cases and divulging secret information to suspects. Kholodnytsky’s term was scheduled to run out in November, but he announced his resignation in August.
