Court orders prosecutor general to take Tatarov case from NABU

The Pechersk district court of Kyiv ruled on Dec. 14
that the corruption case involving Oleh Tatarov, a deputy head of the
President’s Office, should be investigated by State Bureau of Investigations,
not the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), the  slidstvo.info news
site reported the same day. The court’s scandalous judge Serhiy Vovk ordered
the prosecutor general to enforce the ruling, which would bring this case out
of jusrisdiction of the western-supported High Anti-Corruption Court.

Meanwhile, the IMF-backed NABU is largely independent
and has been targeted for takeover by the Zelensky administration until EU
authorities intervened on behalf of its current head, Artem Sytnyk. Reacting to
the ruling, the NABU issued a statement that the court ruling is unlawful, with
its primary aim being diverting the corruption case from being heard by the
High Anti-Corruption Court.

Recall, the NABU suspects Tararov in bribing a police
expert to falsify evidence in a criminal case of misappropriation of
property worth UAH 81 mln targeting Kyiv real estate
developer Maksym Mykytas. Earlier, the NABU complained about attempts by the
prosecutor general to undermine the case by rotating the group of prosecutors
involved.

Zenon Zawada: It’s quite
shocking just how often the President’s Office and its key allies have tried to
flaunt the IMF-sponsored rule of law infrastructure in Ukraine (consisting of
the NABU, the specialized prosecutor’s office and the High Anti-Corruption
Court). This is the latest act of disrespect for these institutions that came
at such a great expense for Ukraine (including the thousands of lives lost in
the EuroMaidan and in Donbas).

We don’t expect the Western authorities will allow
President Zelensky and his cronies to get away with this, particularly when
such scandalous figures (Vovk and Tatarov) are involved. But regardless of
whether they issue statements in the coming days, the effect of such actions
will further undermine Western confidence in the Zelensky administration.