You're reading: Kasko calls fraud case against him political persecution to drive him out of Ukraine

Ex-Deputy Prosecutor General Vitaliy Kasko says a criminal case against him has been concocted as political revenge for publicly exposing corruption in the Prosecutor General's Office.

Vladyslav Kutsenko, a prosecutorial spokesman, responded that Kasko has been misleading Ukrainians with lies and distortions.

The latest scandal involving the nation’s discredited prosecutorial service erupted after an incident late on April 10, when Dmytro Sus, an investigator at the anti-corruption department at the Prosecutor General’s Office, served a notice of suspicion to Kasko.

It calls him in for questioning on April 11. According to the notice of suspicion, Kasko — who resigned in February, alleging corruption in the prosecutorial system and obstruction of his anti-corruption reforms — is suspected of illegally obtaining two apartments.

But Kasko says the notice of suspicion itself was illegal and simply part of an offical campaign to persecute him after he resigned in February, accusing his former bosses of tolerating “total lawlessness” and using the office to charge bribes for opening and closing criminal cases.

“It was normal practice during (ex-Prosecutor General Viktor) Pshonka’s time,” Kasko told the Kyiv Post of the system of bribes involving prosecutors. “And unfortunately, we can observe a very similar situation during the time of (former prosecutor generals) Oleh Makhnitsky, Vitaliy Yarema and Viktor Shokin. Now, in my view, it’s even worse than before … The most widespread thing (for prosecutors) is to take one or other part in various business conflicts.” .

Different opinions

Sus, along with his colleagues, served the notice of suspicion next to Kasko’s car, which Kasko said had been smeared with an unknown substance to prevent him from driving away. Prosecutors were waiting for him near his car, according to Kasko, which suggests that they had been illegally following him.

Kasko also said that prosecutors did not name themselves when asked to do so by his lawyer Yevhen Grushovets, who had rushed to the scene.

Speaking at a briefing on April 11, Kasko also said that Sus had no right to serve him the notice of suspicion because, according to Ukrainian law, only the prosecutor general or his deputy can serve such a notice to an attorney.

“All of these actions indicate that their only goal was the willful persecution of me, because of the opinions that I voiced about the urgency to reform the Prosecutor General’s Office, and those about several officials,” Kasko said.

But Kutsenko, speaking at another briefing later on April 11, said that Kasko was manipulating the facts. The notice of suspicion, he said, had been signed by Deputy Prosecutor General Roman Gopta and it did not matter who read it out.

Kutsenko also showed a video from April 10, in which Sus can be heard identifying himself when talking to Kasko. You can also hear from the video that Kasko was invited for questioning at 10 a.m. on April 11. Kasko, however, planned his briefing for that time. He said the questioning was scheduled for 11 a.m.

Kutsenko also said none of his colleagues had been involved in damaging Kasko’s car.

Apartment fraud accusations

According to Kutsenko, Kasko unlawfully obtained possession of two apartments in Kyiv.

He said Kasko received his first, state-provided apartment in 2003, when he started working as a prosecutor. His mother was registered as a resident in it as well, and privatized it afterwards. Kutsenko said Kasko’s mother then sold her own apartment in Lviv, and bought another apartment in Kyiv.

In 2010, Kasko again applied for a state-provided apartment, although this time a larger one, Kutsenko said. He said that Kasko then explained that he lived with his mother, sister and grandfather, all of whom were homeless.

“So here was the fraud,” Kutsenko said. “His mother had two apartments, and he said they were all homeless.”

Kasko obtained the second apartment and privatized it in 2014, Kutsenko said.

But Kasko said all the materials of the case had been fabricated.

“The only goal of the investigation is to discredit me,” he said. He added that he had information that the proceedings were launched to make him leave the country, but that he would not leave. “I will defend my rights in any courts.”

Alyona Yakhno, a former spokeswoman for the Kyiv prosecutor’s office, told the Kyiv Post that similar alleged violations during the allocation of apartments were a widespread practice at the Prosecutor General’s Office. But usually no one is prosecuted for them, and the case against Kasko is a clear example of selective justice, she said.

Support for Kasko

The unusual attention to Kasko’s apartments contrasts with the failure of the nation’s 18,000 prosecutors to bring a single criminal case to trial involving allegations of multibillion-dollar financial fraud, mass murder and numerous other crimes in which high-profile and powerful suspects of current or former governments are implicated.

Other reformers were outraged by the case, and supported Kasko.

Oleksandr Banchuk, an expert with the Center for Political and Legal Reform, criticized the Prosecutor General’s Office for “numerous violations” and called the case “political persecution.”

“…They are showing that if someone wants to change (the prosecutorial system), if they do not agree with the political leadership and criticize it, there will be these consequences,” he said. “This is a very bad situation.”

Khatia Dekanoidze, the chief of the Ukrainian National Police, also questioned the prosecutors’ move against Kasko.

“To serve a notice of suspicion against a former deputy prosecutor general, in the middle of the night, in who knows what circumstances – definitely doesn’t help (the office’s) image in the eyes of the younger generation,” she wrote on her Facebook page.

Some believe the case against Kasko was initiated by President Petro Poroshenko and his associates. Poroshenko’s spokesman Sviatoslav Tsegolko did not reply to a request for comment from the Kyiv Post.

Sergii Leshchenko, a member of the Bloc of President Petro Poroshenko, has argued that the anti-corruption department in charge of the Kasko case is effectively subordinated to the president and is overseen by influential Poroshenko allies, lawmakers Ihor Kononenko and Oleksandr Hranovsky.

Criminal cases

Kasko said last year that Kononenko had instructed the then-Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin on how to handle criminal cases. Kononenko denied the accusations and said in December he would file a libel lawsuit against Kasko.

Khrystyna Bondarenko, a journalist at the Hromadske television channel, wrote on Facebook on April 11 that a high-ranking member of the Poroshenko Bloc had told her in December that Kasko should be “held responsible for everything,” and that there would be criminal cases against him.

Critics were also unhappy with Poroshenko’s plans to nominate Yuriy Lutsenko, the head of the pro-presidential faction in parliament and a staunch loyalist of the president, as prosecutor general. Poroshenko’s opponents argue that Lutsenko lacks independence and is unlikely to reform the prosecution service.

Lutsenko said on April 11 he had held a meeting with Poroshenko and was ready to head the Prosecutor General’s Office.

Kyiv Post staff writer Alyona Zhyk can be reached at [email protected]. Kyiv Post staff writer Oleg Sukhov ([email protected]) contributed reporting to this story.