Poroshenko submits anti-corruption court bill, drawing criticism

Ukraine’s parliament registered on Dec. 22 the draft legislation
submitted by President Petro Poroshenko to create the independent
Anti-Corruption Court that is being demanded by Western governments and
financial institutions. The bill, submitted on the last day before the
winter recess, was drafted in cooperation with several parliamentary
committees. It’s not likely to be reviewed until Jan. 16 at the earliest, when
parliament is scheduled to reconvene.

The president’s draft legislation includes some
recommendations from the European Commission for Democracy Through Law, also
known as the Venice Commission, but ignores its key recommendations, reported
the Kyiv-based Anti-Corruption Action Centre in its analysis of the text. For
example, the president’s bill offers foreigners only consultative authority in
selecting the court’s judges, rather than selective authority. The bill also
appoints the State Judicial Administration to determine the number of judges on
the court, making it dependent on that state body.

“The presentation of such a bill contradicts the
recent promises and requirements of the president to submit his own version of
the bill to create the anti-corruption court, taking into account the
recommendations of the Venice Commission,” the anti-corruption centre said.

Zenon Zawada: The Ukrainian
president, and even the entire Ukrainian oligarchic establishment, is
intimidated by the prospect of the Anti-Corruption Court’s creation. In their
fierce resistance, they are risking the country’s reputation, credit and future
financing from Western institutions. We don’t expect parliament to approve
legislation that doesn’t conform to European standards, which means that this
bizarre game that Ukraine’s elite is playing with the West is going to drag
deep into 2018.

What’s particularly disturbing about this
development is it further confirms the Poroshenko administration’s increasing
isolation from both the Western establishment and the Ukrainian public. The
president’s team has assumed a bunker-type mentality that is unsustainable
politically. So while we wrote that the election was Poroshenko’s to lose, this
resistance to the independent anti-corruption court is causing Poroshenko to
expend what little political capital he had left rather than building upon it.