Oleksandr Lemenov – reformer of the week
Oleksandr Lemenov, an anti-graft expert at the Reanimation Package of Reforms, wrote on Oct. 17 that the authorities were likely to choose a government loyalist as head of the State Investigation Bureau, which will take away investigative powers from prosecutors. He said that not a single member of the commission that will choose the bureau’s head represented civil society.
Leading candidates loyal to President Petro Poroshenko include Anatoly Matios, a controversial prosecutor and an ex-official of ex-President Viktor Yanukovych’s administration, Lemenov wrote. Another leading candidate is reportedly Oleksiy Gorashchenkov, an aide to Poroshenko.
Other controversial candidates include Oleh Valendyuk, an ally of lawmaker Oleksandr Hranovsky subject to dismissal under the lustration law; Vasyl Vovk, a graduate of the Moscow KGB School who is also subject to lustration, and Olga Varchenko, a prosecutor accused of links to Hranovsky, Lemenov said.
Among the other candidates are Ihor Tsyuprik, who has been accused by lawyer Yevhenia Zakrevska of failing to pass police vetting and being involved in the persecution of EuroMaidan activists and who denies the accusations, and Ihor Balaban, who used to represent pro-Russian parties, Lemenov said.
Viktor Trepak, an ex-top security official, said in August that Hranovsky, a top Poroshenko ally accused of interfering with law enforcement, had been tasked with choosing the bureau’s head. Hranovsky denies the accusations.
Ihor Kotvitsky – anti-reformer of the week
Ihor Kotvitsky, a People’s Front party lawmaker who is under investigation in a graft case, declared purchases of luxury clothing worth about Hr 600,000 earlier this month on the electronic declaration site.
Kotvitsky, an ally of Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, is being investigated by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau over an undeclared transfer of $40 million to Panama.
Meanwhile, Avakov, who is also being investigated in several graft cases, on Oct. 18 declared Hr 4.2 million in dividends from Italian company Avitalia. According to documents published by lawmaker Sergii Leshchenko, Avakov works as the company’s president, which is banned by the law for ministers. Avakov and Kotvitsky deny the corruption accusations.
As of Oct. 20, only 16,798 officials, or 34 percent of those required to file, had submitted their e-declarations for 2015 as time runs out before the Oct. 31 deadline. President Petro Poroshenko has not yet filed his declaration.
Yegor Sobolev, head of the Verkhovna Rada’s anti-corruption committee, said on Oct. 20. that the committee would initiate criminal cases against those responsible for the sabotage of e-declarations.
To help corrupt officials evade responsibility, the National Agency for Preventing Corruption will likely try to delay the deadline for e-declarations by 60 days, after which declaration system could be emasculated, anti-graft activist Vitaly Shabunin wrote on Oct. 19.
