Ukraine law enforcement wiretapping anti-corruption prosecutor
21 March 2018
The Prosecutor General’s Office and the National
Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) have been wiretapping for several
weeks the office of Nazar Kholodnytskiy, the head of the Specialized
Anti-Corruption Prosecution, the pravda.com.ua news site reported on March 20,
citing anonymous sources. The report didn’t confirm the possible criminal
offenses the wiretapping involves. Kholodnytskiy may also soon resign, the
pravda.com.ua news site reported, citing anonymous sources in the prosecutor’s
office. The specialized prosecution press-service denied the claim.
Zenon Zawada: The purpose
of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecution is to prosecute the crimes
investigated by the NABU, which was created as a result of Ukraine’s agreement
with the IMF. So this development is disconcerting considering that
Kholodnytskiy is supposed to be working in close cooperation with NABU. It
grows even stranger when considering that NABU and Prosecutor General’s Office
have been in a tense conflict with each other for a few years. Now they have
united to investigate Kholodnytskiy.
At this point, the main conclusion to be drawn is
that Ukraine’s anti-corruption authorities are plagued by infighting and
possible corruption themselves, which only further harms reform efforts.
Needless to say, the investigation of Kholodnytskiy, even if it is justified,
harms Ukraine’s standing with Western lenders.
