Our problem with the whole affair is that it might end badly – and not for Tymoshenko. Contrary to some readers who see the Kyiv Post as a pro-Tymoshenko forum, we would be the first to applaud her conviction and imprisonment for any and all laws she has broken – as long as she gets a fair and public trial.
But that rarely happens in Ukraine and that is not what is going to happen in this case. What is going on now is all part of the same old political circus. No high-ranking government officials or business tycoons have ever been tried, convicted or imprisoned for corruption in modern history – and this in a nation swimming in graft and nihilism. As much as they fight in public, Ukraine’s elite look out for each other when the going gets tough.
What this week’s events show is that the old Yanukovych dogs haven’t learned any new tricks.
Do prosecutors really expect anyone to believe there is no political motive behind their reopening of an old criminal case on May 12 against Tymoshenko into alleged bribery of judges? The case was opened under ex-President Leonid Kuchma in 2003 and closed when Tymoshenko became prime minister for the first time in 2005. They know that today’s opposition leader could be in power tomorrow, so we doubt prosecutors will expend much effort into getting to the facts of the case. They are now just doing what they are told to do.
Does the administration really expect anyone to believe that it does not interfere in the criminal justice system? All Ukrainians know that police, prosecutors and judges are some of the most politically subservient and corrupt elements of society.
Besides dusting off the old case, the Yanukovych administration announced the hiring of three American firms to audit state finances and investigate whether Tymoshenko misused $12 billion from the state budget as prime minister.
We would love to see the results of this probe, but we doubt that the public ever will. We also hope the Yanukovych administration digs back further into time, but that is naпve. Oversight into how the Ukrainian government spends taxpayers’ money is poor. Corruption and thievery from the public’s purse are rife. Just ask Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, who told a Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine audience last year that – when he was finance minister – he asked other government officials to limit their stealing to 5 percent of the budget.
So, Mr. President, if you are starting an anti-corruption campaign in earnest, you have the Kyiv Post’s full support. Investigators will find no shortage of targets.
