After Escaping the Sack, Ukrainian Anti-Corruption Prosecutor Goes on Holiday

Ukraine’s anti-corruption bodies have been left frustrated this week after a disciplinary commission failed to dismiss a chief anti-corruption prosecutor accused of sabotaging criminal investigations.

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (or NABU) head Artem Sytnyk and other anti-corruption activists have been calling for the dismissal of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) head Nazar Kholodnytskyi for months.

In March, the Prosecutor General’s Office with NABU lodged complaints to the Qualification Disciplinary Commission of Prosecutors about alleged disciplinary offenses committed by Kholodnytskyi, who is also the deputy prosecutor general.

The Qualification Disciplinary Commission of Prosecutors, after considering the case against Kholodnytskyi, decided against his dismissal on July 26. The committee will instead decide on a reprimand measure within the coming days. While members of the committee agree that Kholodnytskyi violated the law, Ukraine’s legislation does not grant the commission the powers to dismiss the SAPO head. Sytnyk had however asked the committee to dismiss him as deputy prosecutor general.

Photo credit: Volodymyr Hontar/UNIAN

In April, NABU released snippets from several secretly recorded meetings between Kholodnytskyi and various people linked to officials, which Sytnyk says can be used as evidence of interference with criminal cases against officials.

Earlier this month, the Anti-Corruption Action Center (AntAC) staged protests in front of SAPO after the prosecutor closed an embezzlement case involving Oleksandr Avakov, son of the Ukrainian Minister of the Interior. Last year Avakov was accused of embezzling 14 million hryvnia ($520,640) of state funds through a contract for new backpack for the Ukrainian military.

Photo credit: Dmytro Replianchyk/HROMADSKE

According to AntAC, just a week after the case was closed a close ally of the Interior Minister came to the prosecutor’s officers to “somehow protect Kholodnytskyi against mass protests.”

Hromadske reached out to Kholodnytskyi for comment twice but he declined to speak on the matter, saying he was tired. The SAPO head however then confirmed that he will be going on vacation for a month and a half.

Following the testimony reading at the commission meeting, Sytnyk said Kholodnytskyi had violated the law and therefore should be dismissed.

Photo credit: Dmytro Replianchyk/HROMADSKE

AntAC expert Anastasia Krasnosilska told Hromadske the commission failed to perform its duty.

“For us this first of all is a sign that prosecutorial reform in Ukraine has not just failed but is non-existent,” she said.

“One of the aims of prosecutorial reform was basically to provide opportunity for prosecution to purify itself from tainted prosecutors, unfortunately in the Kholodnytskyi case we see this is not working.”

Photo credit: HROMADSKE

This, Krasnosilska said, endangers all the anti-corruption infrastructure in Ukraine, including the long-awaited anti-corruption court.

“Without an independent prosecutor’s office we will have no strong cases to be heard by this court and our hope of bringing corrupt officials to justice will once again not be fulfilled,” she said.

The United States Embassy in Ukraine and the Ukrainian branch of Transparency International have also publicly called for Kholodnytskyi’s resignation. In a statement, Transparency International Ukraine wrote that this is the only way to save SAPO’s reputation.

Photo credit: Dmytro Replianchyk/HROMADSKE

Prosecutors meanwhile have been divided on the Kholodnytskyi case, with a number of them signing a petition in support of the SAPO head.

Krasnosilska, however, believes that the prosecutors who signed the petition did so only to protect themselves because they were involved in unlawful decision making.

“Allegedly they [made unlawful decisions] upon request or pressure from their director, Kholodnytskyi. If Kholodnytskyi took on unlawful decisions they unfortunately were part of this scheme and also have to be worried about their future,” she said.

Photo credit: Dmytro Replianchyk/HROMADSKE

Kholodnytskyi’s deputy Maksym Hryshchuk told Hromadske after the commission meeting that he signed a petition in defense of the SAPO head because he is opposed to putting pressure on employees of the anti-corruption prosecutor's office. He however refused to comment on whether, in his opinion, Kholodnytskyi committed an offense.

Krasnosilska said the decision to bring Kholodnytskyi to justice lies with the prosecutor general of Ukraine. “There are two criminal cases allegedly against Kholodnytskyi,” she said.

“These cases are being investigated by the Prosecutor General's Office and the Prosecutor General, Yuriy Lutsenko, is the one who is responsible for serving notification of suspicion to Kholodnytskyi in these two cases. So this is what we await from him.”

/By Natalie Vikhrov