Reformer of the week – Solomiia Bobrovska

Solomiia Bobrovska stepped down as acting governor of Odesa Oblast on Jan. 12 and was replaced by Maxim Stepanov.

Bobrovska had been a deputy governor since April and its acting governor since the former governor, Mikheil Saakashvili, resigned in November. Bobrovska, a member of Saakashvili’s team, was praised by local activists for transparency and blocking numerous corrupt schemes in construction, the allocation of land and the regional budget.

Her resignation follows that of at least 23 other top reformers last year.

The move came as President Petro Poroshenko on Jan. 12 lambasted Saakashvili and his team, accusing them of failing to use funds allocated for road construction and to generate sufficient customs revenues. In response, Bobrovska said on Jan. 13 that Poroshenko had provided false figures for road funds, saying that Odesa Oblast had been the country’s leader in terms of road construction in 2016.

Other critics of the president, including ex-State Fiscal Service Deputy Chief Kostyantyn Likarchuk, have also accused Poroshenko of manipulating customs data. They say that some customs revenues have been diverted from Odesa to other regions because of Odesa Oblast’s former customs chief Yulia Marushevska’s efforts to eliminate graft, with corrupt schemes moving to other regional customs.

Following the resignation of Saakashvili and his team, corrupt and pro-Russian officials are reportedly making a comeback in Odesa Oblast, with corrupt schemes being revived in all spheres.

Anti-reformer of the week – Nazar Kholodnytsky

Nazar Kholodnytsky, Ukraine’s chief anti-corruption prosecutor, has been accused of blocking criminal cases pursued by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine. Kholodnytsky has denied the accusations, attributing problems with the cases to a lack of evidence, or to legal difficulties.

Vitaly Shabunin, head of the Anti-Corruption Action Center’s executive board, on Jan. 16 accused Kholodnytsky of blocking a case into alleged theft at tycoon Dmytro Firtash’s Zaporizhzhia Titanium and Magnesium Plant, and helping ex-Ecology Minister Mykola Zlochevsky keep natural gas production licenses in Ukraine.

In November, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau complained to Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko that Kholodnytsky was refusing to sign notices of suspicion against Yuriy Miroshnikov, CEO of Ukraine International Airlines, and Denis Antonyuk, ex-head of the State Aviation Service, in a theft case.

Kholodnytsky was also accused of dragging his feet on signing a notice of suspicion for Central Election Commission Chief Mykhailo Okhendovsky for many months in a bribery case, until he caved in to public pressure in December.

Critics argue that President Petro Poroshenko is using Kholodnytsky to keep the National Anti-Corruption Bureau under control and sabotage cases for political reasons, which both Poroshenko and Kholodnytsky deny. However, Kholodnytsky has admitted that he meets with Poroshenko regularly.

Kholodnytsky is also rumored to be one of Poroshenko’s top candidates for the position of prosecutor general.

All anti-corruption prosecutors have to get their decisions approved by Kholodnytsky, which is a way for him to wield political influence, Oleksandr Lemenov, an expert at the Reanimation Package of Reforms, told the Kyiv Post. Under Ukrainian law, they are supposed to make decisions independently.

So far, there is not a single notice of suspicion against top allies of Poroshenko and ex-Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, including the president’s right-hand man and lawmaker Ihor Kononenko, and ex-lawmaker Mykola Martynenko.