There is no war between the Prosecutor General’s Office and the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine, Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko said during a press briefing in Kyiv on Dec. 5.
But Ukraine’s key Western partners obviously think otherwise.
The United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union have now all condemned what they say are attempts by the Prosecutor General’s Office to undermine the fight against high-profile corruption in Ukraine through attacking the NABU – seen in the West as the only law enforcement agency free of political influence.
“The (NABU) is a critical piece of the anti-corruption machinery in Ukraine, and has made great strides in its development and its investigations,” reads a UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office statement published on Dec. 6.
“Recent events, including interference in NABU investigations and the exposing of NABU’s undercover officers, are a worrying sign that the future of independent anti-corruption investigations is under threat,” the statement continues.
Earlier, on Dec. 5, the European Union also issued an official statement about the conflict between the law enforcement agencies in Ukraine and the attacks on the NABU.
“The public disclosure of a corruption investigation by the Prosecutor General Office significantly weakens the capacity of the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine to effectively conduct investigations and undermines public trust in an effective fight against corruption,” Maja Kocijancic, spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, said in a statement published on European Union External Action Service website on Dec. 5.
That echoes a statement from the United States made the day before, on Dec. 4, when U.S Department of State spokesperson Heather Nauert said attacks by the authorities on the NABU could wear away international support for Ukraine and erode public trust in its institutions.
The current row erupted during the press conference in Kyiv on Dec. 1, when NABU Head Artem Sytnyk accused the Prosecutor General’s Office and SBU security service of revealing the names, passports, and addresses of the NABU agents involved in an undercover operation to expose corruption in the State Migration Service. He said the release of the information had effectively obstructed the case.
Lutsenko denied Sytnyk’s accusations and said the NABU had violated the law during their investigation into Dina Pimakhova, the head of the State Migration Service, as they used wiretapping without a warrant and had provoked Pimakhova into taking a bribe using undercover agents, who had no rights to conduct investigations.
“I am all for the NABU – I was one of the authors of bill that created the NABU,” Lutsenko said during a speech in parliament on Dec. 6.
“But as prosecutor general I can’t close my eyes to their illegal methods of investigation,” he said.
“All NABU staff and non-staff officers must be selected through a transparent competition, according to the law. So, unfortunately, Sytnyk and his detectives have become hostages of the legislation,” Lutsenko said.
Both Lutsenko and SBU Head Vasyl Hrytsak decided to address the Ukrainian parliament on Dec. 6, the last day of the Global Asset Recovery Forum in Washington D.C, where Sytnyk and the Head of the Special Anti-corruption Prosecutor’s Office Nazar Kholodnytskiy were representing Ukraine.
Because they were in the United States, Sytnyk and Kholodnytskiy were thus unable to attend a planned meeting in the Ukrainian parliament and present their view on the conflict with the Prosecutor’s General Office of Ukraine.
“I am on the same side of the barricades as the NABU. But I can’t just forget that they violated the law,” Lutsenko said.
He accused Sytnyk of trying to discredit the Prosecutor General’s Office.
“He could just sit and ask the parliament to change the legislation. But instead, he (Sytnyk) preferred to organize in Washington a discrediting campaign against the prosecutor’s office,” Lutsenko said.
Sytnyk and Kholodnytskiy have said they will not interrupt their visit to the United States, as they both have meetings scheduled there until Dec. 12.
However, their decision was met with criticism in the Ukrainian parliament. Radical Party Leader Oleh Lyashko, a populist, even claimed that both Sytnyk and Kholodnytskiy are obeying the orders of another country’s government, and not those of Ukraine.
According to the U.S State Department’s official website, the Global Assets Recovery forum aims to facilitate the recovery of stolen assets from four countries – Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, and Ukraine.
The press statement published on the State Department website on Dec. 5 reads that U.S. law enforcement professionals are embedded in Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau to help build anti-corruption and asset recovery capacity and strengthen Ukraine’s overall anticorruption efforts.
“U.S. support has contributed to 333 criminal proceedings, 207 notices of suspicion, and the finalization of 108 indictments in cases related to corruption. Ongoing programming will continue to build on these achievements,” the statement reads.
When lawmakers asked Lutsenko on Dec. 6 whether it was legal for the foreign law enforcement agents to work in Ukraine, prosecutor general said that they were only allowed to exchange information.
