When Prosecutor General Vitaly Yarema delivers a report at the Verkhovna Rada on Feb. 6, it’s unlikely to get a standing ovation. One of the reasons is that his agency is making little progress in criminal investigations against officials linked to deposed President Viktor Yanukovych.
It is not clear, however, whether there will be a majority in the Verkhovna Rada in favor of dismissing him.
Not a single corruption case against Yanukovych’s team has yet been submitted to a court almost one year after his downfall on Feb. 22, 2014, and only two police officers accused of killing EuroMaidan demonstrators are facing court hearings as suspects.
“The Prosecutor General’s Office has demonstrated inaction, as well as inability and a lack of political will to prosecute ex-government officials, let alone to investigate some heavyweights in the new government,” Daryna Kalenyuk, head of the Anti-Corruption Action Center, a think tank, said.
Yarema and his supporters deny the charges, claiming that the Prosecutor General’s Office is actively investigating the high-profile cases.
The prosecutor general met with lawmakers from the bloc of President Petro Poroshenko on Feb. 2 to persuade them not to support his dismissal and achieved his purpose, the Novoye Vremya magazine reported on Feb. 4, citing sources at the parliament.
Yury Lutsenko, head of the Poroshenko Bloc’s faction, defended the prosecutor on Feb. 3. “Apparently Yarema has put forward arguments in favor of his staying in office,” he said. “Being an objective person, I can say that the prosecutor’s office has taken very serious steps in recent months, and we’re hearing about high-profile cases and right actions.”
Serhiy Kaplin, a lawmaker on the Poroshenko Bloc’s list, said on Feb. 4 that the number of signatures in favor of a motion to put Yarema’s dismissal on the agenda was below the 150 needed to initiate the proceedings.
On the day when Yarema met with Poroshenko Bloc parliamentarians, Verkhovna Rada Speaker Volodymyr Groysman said that 10 lawmakers had revoked their signatures, though Boryslav Bereza, a member of the Verkhovna Rada, denied it the following day.
Yegor Sobolev, a parliamentarian on the Samopomich party’s list, said on Feb. 4 that 132 signatures had been collected so far, excluding those that had been revoked.
Though the motion was supported by most of Samopomich and the Radical Party, only a minority of Batkyvshchyna, People’s Front and Poroshenko Bloc lawmakers have signed it, Sobolev said by phone.
“There’s a lack of political courage,” Serhiy Leshchenko, a lawmaker on the Poroshenko Bloc’s list who is in favor of firing Yarema, told the Kyiv Post. “They don’t want to be at odds with the president’s line.”
Yarema has recently stepped up his activities in an apparent effort to avoid being dismissed, Sobolev said.
In December the Prosecutor General’s Office brought corruption charges against former Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka, his son Artyom Pshonka, former presidential Deputy Chief of Staff Andriy Portnov, former presidential Chief of Staff Andrei Klyuyev and Yury Ivanyushchenko, a former parliamentarian and alleged mafia boss.
Moreover, in January Yanukovych, former Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, former Finance Minister Yury Kolobov and Georgiy Dzekon, CEO of telecommunications monopoly Ukrtelecom, were put on Interpol’s wanted list.
Later Kyiv’s Pechersky court issued arrest warrants in absentia for Yanukovych, Azarov, Kolobov and former Revenue and Tax Minister Oleksandr Klymenko.
But so far, no charges have been brought against former Justice Minister Olena Lukash, Mykola Azarov’s son Oleksiy Azarov, former Education and Science Minister Dmytro Tabachnik, Yanukovych’s son Viktor, Klyuyev’s brother Serhiy and Party of Regions heavyweight Oleksandr Yefremov. Former presidential advisor Ihor Kalinin, former presidential Chief of Staff Serhiy Lyovochkin and Yury Boiko, a former deputy prime minister and currently leader of the Opposition Bloc, have not been charged either.
Leshchenko wrote on Facebook on Feb. 2 that, due to a lack of charges, E.U. sanctions introduced last year would be lifted for Oleksiy Azarov, Viktor Yanukovych Jr., Dmytro Tabachnik, Olena Lukash and Serhiy Klyuyev. That means that their European assets will be unfrozen and travel bans lifted.
Moreover, the E.U. is expected to lift its sanctions against former Security Service head Oleksandr Yakymenko because he has not been charged for corruption crimes, Leshchenko said. Yakymenko has only been charged in connection with the killing of demonstrators during the EuroMaidan Revolution. Yuriy Butusov, editor-in-chief of the censor.net news portal, said on Feb. 5 that the sanctions could be lifted in early March.
But Svyatoslav Laganyak, head of the main investigative department of the Prosecutor General’s Office, described their relations with EU authorities as a “complete idyll.” “Currently the level of cooperation between the Prosecutor General’s Office and international institutions is so high that there are no questions and complaints,” he said by phone.
Even those who do face corruption charges have managed to bypass asset freezes and other restrictions.
“These months (of inaction in Ukraine since the E.U. sanctions were introduced in March 2014) have enabled Yanukovych’s entourage to transfer their property (to different owners),” Kalenyuk said.
She said that banks owned by Pshonka and former Interior Minister Vitaly Zakharchenko had been sold, and it’s not clear what happened to Yanukovych’s bank. Pshonka’s assets have been frozen abroad but, surprisingly, nobody has sought to freeze them in Ukraine, she added.
The Prosecutor General’s Office said in its response to a Kyiv Post request that assets belonging to Yanukovych’s entourage worth 6.2 billion hryvnias and $1.8 billion had been frozen in Ukraine. The authorities of the U.S., E.U., Switzerland and Liechtenstein have frozen assets worth $132.9 million, 118.8 million Swiss francs and 14.05 million euros, the office said.
Meanwhile, Pshonka and Yanukovych have also managed to sell their properties in Kyiv, which were not subject to asset freezes.
Another frequent complaint against the prosecutor’s office is the fact that not a single corruption case against Yanukovych’s entourage has been submitted to a court.
This process was initially thwarted by many suspects fleeing from Ukraine but in October the parliament passed a law authorizing trials in absentia.
The Prosecutor General’s Office told the Kyiv Post that a case could be heard in absentia if an extradition request is sent to the country where a suspect is based, and if that country refuses to extradite the suspect.
But extradition requests have not been sent to Russia, where many of the suspects live, as of now. Laganyak told the Kyiv Post on Jan. 30 that such requests for Yanukovych, Azarov and Kolobov would be sent in the upcoming days.
Another high-profile case, the investigation into the killing of more than 100 demonstrators during the EuroMaidan revolution, has also seen little progress.
In January the first murder cases against two Berkut riot police officers, who are currently under arrest, were submitted to a court. The third police officer charged in the case, Berkut commander Dmytro Sadovnik, fled in October 2014 after a court released him from a detention facility and put him under house arrest.
Another 13 Berkut officers involved in the case fled Ukraine following the EuroMaidan Revolution.
Laganyak said that they could be tried in absentia. However, they have not been charged yet, and no extradition requests have been sent.
In a related investigation into the brutal crackdown on protesters on Nov. 30, 2013, four Berkut officers were charged and put under house arrest in January.
“This time there will be no lengthy investigation,” Laganyak told the Kyiv Post on Jan. 30, adding that the cases against the four officers would be submitted to a court within two months.
Apart from allegedly stalling major criminal cases, Yarema has been accused of reluctance to fire controversial allies.
Anatoly Danylenko, a deputy and friend of Yarema’s, was suspended from his duties in September after the Nashi Groshi investigative journalist project revealed illegal property deals allegedly made by Danylenko’s family. Nashi Groshi journalist Alina Strizhak said at the time that she received threats following publication of her discoveries.
However, the Prosecutor General’s Office said in its response to the Kyiv Post that it had found no sign of wrongdoing on Danylenko’s part.
Kyiv Post staff writer Olena Goncharova contributed to this report.
