Anti-corruption officials clash in latest violent episode
20 September 2018
The ongoing conflict between the National
Anti-Corruption Bureau and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office had
another violent episode on Sept. 19, when bureau detectives were accused of
laying a cable to spy again on the prosecutor’s office. When the alleged bureau
detectives were caught, bureau special agents arrived at the scene, assaulted a
prosecutor’s office security guard and broke his arm, stole his vehicle and
caused an accident, the pravda.com.ua news site reported. The bureau agents
also fought with police who arrived at the scene. Bureau Head Artem Sytnyk
denied attempting to wiretap the proseutor’s office.
Both the bureau and prosecutor’s office were created
in 2015 at the request of Western lenders, who wanted independent agencies
investigating crimes of corruption and prosecuting them. Relations between the
two bodies deteriorated in March this year when Nazar Kholodnytskiy, the head
anti-corruption prosecution, discovered his office had been
wiretapped by the anti-corruption bureau, in
cooperation with the Prosecutor General’s Office.
Zenon Zawada: Obviously,
this incident further harms Ukraine’s image and credibility among Western authorities,
who have been desperate in finding progress in combating corruption in Ukraine.
This ongoing conflict jeopardizes the functioning of the independent High
Anti-Corruption Court, whose creation was launched in June by the president
after intense pressure from Western institutions and civil organizations. It’s
unclear what cases the court would begin to hear if these two bodies can’t
cooperate in investigating and prosecuting them.
We expect this conflict to continue until after the
2019 elections because it’s very convenient for the leading politicians to have
the anti-corruption bodies fighting with each other, rather than investigating
and prosecuting cases. The conflict has caused both Kholodnytskiy and Sytnyk to
align themselves with politicians and even perform favors for them (allegedly),
such as closing cases.
