Poroshenko refuses selection of anti-corruption judges by foreigners

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko made clear that
he opposes the proposal that foreign donors can play a decisive role in selecting
the judges of the independent anti-corruption court that they are requiring for
the next IMF loan tranche, according to his March 1 interview published by the
Financial Times on March 6. “If anybody can imagine that foreign donors will
form Ukrainian courts, this is against the constitution, because only the
Ukrainian people can have a decisive role in creating … Ukrainian court
system,” he said.

The bill to create the High Anti-Corruption Court,
which Poroshenko administration team drafted and submitted, is currently in the
parliament, where he said there is an opportunity to discuss its conditions.
“And I am absolutely happy if all our partners can exchange arguments and find
a definite compromise,” he said. He also warned that the final draft should be
consistent with the constitution, otherwise “anyone can go to the
Constitutional Court and suspend or stop this law,” which would be “a
catastrophe.”

Answering a question on what he thinks about
international donors’ demand that judges be independent, he said that he is
“absolutely for the independent status of judges,” stressing that they
should be independent from the foreign donors as well.

Recall, the IMF
and the World Bank criticized
Poroshenko’s bill on creating the anti-corruption court, which allows a local
commission of judges to nominate even those candidates who are rejected by a
council of international experts. Approval of the law in compliance with
Council of Europe recommendations is crucial for the IMF to provide its fifth
loan tranche to Ukraine under the current EFF program.

Alexander Paraschiy: The
selection of judges for a future anti-corruption court is crucial for its
independence. Therefore, it’s not in the interest of Ukraine’s elites to allow
international experts to be able to reject or veto the nomination of certain
candidates to the court. International institutions, and the World Bank in
particular, cited the negative experience with judges selected to Ukraine’s
Supreme Court, in which a Judges Qualifications Commission overrode decisions
made by a Public Integrity Council – respected by Western institutions – to
reject numerous candidates. Of the appointed Supreme Court judges, 22% had a
negative assessment from the Public Integrity Council and over 50% drew
significant criticism.

For that reason, we do not believe there is room for
compromise in the selection of judges to the anti-corruption court, as
Poroshenko is hoping for. Therefore, we treat Poroshenko’s continued resistance
to “foreign donors,” as he referred to them (as opposed to
“Western partners”), as a very disturbing signal that threatens the
chances on getting the IMF loan tranche this year.

One of the likely scenarios, which Poroshenko
hinted at in the interview, is that parliament approves the law in line with
IMF demands (and Ukraine receives the next loan tranche), but then Ukraine’s
Constitutional Court will declare the law unconstitutional and repeal it
altogether.