The attempts to install Nigel Brown as the third auditor of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine are a farce, even by the standards of Ukrainian politics.
President Petro Poroshenko and his gray cardinals, lawmakers Ihor Kononenko and Oleksandr Hranovsky, have three times unsuccessfully tried to impose Brown on Ukraine’s kleptocratic legislature.
Even the mounting resentment of civil society, harsh criticism by Western embassies and numerous procedural violations have not prevented the president and his cronies from pushing for this candidate, who has received money from Russian oligarchs and has been investigated by British police in a bribery case.
So strong is Poroshenko’s desire for absolute power that two other puppet auditors – yet to be appointed by himself and his loyal Cabinet of Ministers – are not enough for him. He also wants to control the auditor appointed by parliament.
As the bureau’s chief can be fired as the result of an audit, the president is clearly doing this to influence and possibly destroy the anti-corruption bureau, which is going after presidential allies, most notably state tax and customs chief Roman Nasirov on corruption charges that the suspect denies.
Verkhovna Rada Speaker Andriy Parubiy and Tetiana Rychkova, a volunteer helping the army, have already harmed their reputations by backing Brown.
The fact that Brown, a dark horse with a dubious reputation and without any anti-corruption credentials, received more votes in parliament than Robert Storch, a respected U.S. official with an impeccable reputation, offers more proof that many in the Verkhovna Rada are useless tools of a corrupt establishment. Elections cannot come quickly enough for Ukrainians.
Still, the ruling elite’s failure to get their way so far is a good sign. Kononenko was frantically running around parliament in search of allies of ex-President Viktor Yanukovych with votes for sale. But he failed. Fugitive lawmaker Oleksandr Onyshchehnko, a suspect in a corruption case, has accused Kononenko of buying votes, which he denies.
Civil society matters. The incumbent authorities should always keep in mind that Yanukovych’s fate awaits those who ignore or try to fool the people.
