In a historic move, Kyiv’s Pechersky Court has authorized the first two trials to be held in absentia in Ukraine, for allies of ousted President Viktor Yanukovych.
However, the indictments have not yet been sent to court and the trials have not yet begun – almost 17 months since Yanukovych and his associates fled the country amid massive public protests against his rule.
Critics say the Pechersky Court’s decision comes too late, and prosecutors’ inaction has allowed some Yanukovych allies to transfer their assets to other firms and escape confiscation. Others have been able to flee or to be removed from Interpol’s wanted list and the E.U.’s list of sanctioned Ukrainians due to authorities’ failure to properly prosecute them or track them down, critics say.
The court on July 23 authorized trials in absentia for ex-Health Minister Raisa Bohatyryova, and on July 24 for ex-Deputy Tax and Revenue Minister Andriy Ihnatov.
Bohatyryova is accused of embezzling Hr 6.5 million during purchases of medical equipment, while Ihnatov is accused of abuse of power.
The Prosecutor General’s Office has also asked Pechersky Court to permit trials in absentia for Yanukovych, former Deputy Prime Minister Serhiy Arbuzov, ex-Tax and Revenue Minister Oleksandr Klymenko and Bohatyryova’s suspected accomplice Oleksandr Stashchenko, Deputy Prosecutor General Vitaly Kasko said on July 24.
However, the Yanukovych trial is unlikely to be launched soon because he has been removed from Interpol’s wanted list pending an appeal by his defense lawyers. Interpol’s Ukrainian bureau said on July 21 that Yanukovych would be off the list until the appeal is considered in September.
“His lawyers have worked well, and Ukraine has been dragging its feet on trials in absentia for too long,” Vitaly Shabunin, head of the Anti-Corruption Action Center’s executive board, told the Kyiv Post, adding that Yanukovych had enough money to hire good lawyers.
Shabunin said that prosecutors’ inaction for a year-and-a-half had allowed some suspects in high-profile corruption cases to re-register their assets to other firms and to get off Interpol’s wanted list.
“Is Interpol a perfect organization that always makes correct decisions? No,” Shabunin said. “But Ukraine’s actions were sometimes so idiotic that even if Interpol had wanted to take the right decision, it wouldn’t have been able to.”
Yury Lutsenko, a lawmaker from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, said last week that Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin should resign if he fails to send the Yanukovych case to court in September.
Due to a lack of progress on high-profile corruption cases and recent evidence that Shokin allegedly tried to foil a crackdown on corruption at his agency, lawmakers have been collecting signatures for his dismissal. So far, 106 lawmakers’ signatures have been collected, while 150 are necessary to put the issue on Parliament’s agenda.
Shokin has denied accusations that he is covering up corruption at his office.
The Prosecutor General’s Office has cited legal hurdles and Interpol’s reluctance to put suspects on its wanted list as reasons for the slow pace of the investigations.
Kyiv Post staff writer Oleg Sukhov can be reached at [email protected].
