Kliuyev brothers get favorable ruling in Ukrainian court

A higher Kyiv court ruled on June 2 that a company controlled by the Kliuyev brothers doesn’t have to return to the state debt of EUR 230 mln, reported the 1i. com.ua news site on June 11. The ruling overturned those reached by lower courts that declined to terminate agreements between the company and state Ukreximbank requiring the loan’s repayment.

The loan was guaranteed by an insurance firm also owned by the Kliuyevs, which has been the plaintiff pursuing the agreement’s termination in the courts. The loan was the basis for the Prosecutor General of Ukraine requesting parliament to remove political immunity from MP Serhiy Kliuyev, clearing open the possibility for criminal charges to be filed.

Zenon Zawada: This incident exemplifies just how difficult it is for the government to combat corruption and file key criminal charges against officials in the Yanukovych administration. Kliuyev had his immunity stripped, yet he was never arrested and now is very likely to be abroad. It’s not clear whether the decision to not vote in parliament for Kliuyev’s arrest was made by a key government official, or decided in the middle ranks of power.

And while they’re free, whether in Ukraine or abroad, the Yanukovych entourage continues to manipulate business and politics to protect their assets. Such a ruling in the Kliuyev brothers’ favor, overturning two previous judges that rule oppositely, hints at corruption and indicates the Yanukovych entourage still has the ability to influence judges and law enforcement officials. What emerges is a cat-and-mouse game in a massive government labyrinth that offers plenty of loopholes and hiding spaces.

In this byzantine system, a legitimate fight against corruption needs to consist of elimination of entire state bodies, departments and their staff, we believe. In those bodies that remain, lustration must involve eliminating most of those law enforcement officers and judges from the previous system and ensuring they don’t return to government in some other capacity. Ideally, the government would form a “school” for preparing their replacements, in which they’re instilled with new Western values and approaches to work that were effective in successful post-Soviet states.