Anti-corruption court convicts first corrupt elected official

The High Anti-Corruption Court ruled on June 15 to
convict Oleksandr Mefodiy, a deputy of the Kyiv Regional Council, to five years
imprisonment and confiscation of property for abuse of authority, the
Anti-Corruption Centre announced that day on its Telegram page. “We
congratulate the High Anti-Corruption Court with its first serious conviction
for a felony,” the centre said. Mefodiy took a bribe for USD 5,000 in April
2019 in exchange for arranging for the return to an entrepreneur a truck that
had been evidence in a criminal case. The court, which functions independently
of the government, began functioning in September 2019 after being a
requirement for an IMF loan tranche.

Zenon Zawada: The June 15
criminal conviction by the High Anti-Corruption Court is among the first
instances in which an elected official will serve prison time for a crime of
corruption. There have been a few instances of elected officials being
imprisoned for particularly severe crimes, such the 2011 murder conviction for
MP Viktor Lozinsky (who has served only part of his 15-year sentence). But
economic crimes have rarely been punished in independent Ukraine. (The 2011
conviction of former PM Tymoshenko was determined to have been politically
motivated.)

So it’s positive that the High Anti-Corruption Court
is becoming active finally in imprisoning corrupt officials (after three years
spent on its establishment). Mefodiy’s conviction will serve as a valuable
signal to all state officials that criminal acts will be punished, and they
will be forced to think twice in engaging in such acts. So progress is being
made in enabling Ukraine to become a rule of law state, in spite of the very
slow pace. This is among the best examples of how Ukraine’s cooperation has
been with the IMF brings far more benefit than low-interest loans. It brings
Western integration.