IMF calls upon Poroshenko to halt attacks on anti-corruption bodies

The IMF called upon the administration of Ukrainian
President Petro Poroshenko to halt its attack on the National Anti-Corruption Bureau
(NABU) and approve legislation creating an independent Anti-Corruption Court in
a Dec. 6 statement. “We urge the Ukrainian authorities and parliament to
safeguard the independence of NABU and the Specialized Anti-Corruption
Prosecutor’s Office,” said Managing Director Christine Lagarde. “We also urge the authorities to move quickly with legislation to operationalize
an independent Anti-Corruption Court consistent with the recommendations of the
Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, which is essential to credibly
adjudicate high-level corruption cases.”

 

The heads of the parliamentary factions of the
Poroshenko Bloc and People’s Front submitted on Dec. 6 legislation that would
enable dismissing the head of the NABU without an audit. The legislation has
since been removed from the parliament’s agenda, reported this morning MP
Mustafa Nayyem just couple of hours after the IMF’s statement was released. The
NABU, led by Artem Sytnyk, is considered to be Ukraine’s most independent law
enforcement body and has been backed by Western governments in its ongoing
conflict with the Poroshenko administration.

 

Meanwhile, the members of the parliamentary
anti-corruption committee voted to recommend that parliament dismiss as its
committee head Yegor Sobolev, an MP with the Self-Reliance party and among the
leaders of the Rada Maidan tent city protest outside of parliament. In
addition, Sobolev would have had to approve the review by the anti-corruption
committee of the legislation to dismiss the NABU head without an audit.

 

In response, Hugh Mingarelli, the head of the European
Union delegation to Ukraine, expressed his concern about Sobolev’s dismissal,
the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported. “I would like to call upon the Rada
to carefully think before such a recommendation is approved at the plenary
session, taking into account the international concern regarding the latest
events in the fight against corruption in Ukraine,” he said.

 

The whereabouts of Rada Maidan leader Mikheil
Saakashvili were not reported by Ukrainian media as of this morning. Prosecutor
General Yuriy Lutsenko had given him 24 hours on Dec. 6 to surrender to
authorities as he is wanted and is under police search. Saakashvili’s lawyer
claimed that he went to the Prosecutor General’s Office to receive the
declaration of him being a suspect in criminal activity, which was not made
available.

 

That evening, Saakashvili repeated the goals of his
protest movement from the Rada Maidan stage. “I can already announce the plan:
remove criminal groups from Ukraine’s law enforcement bodies in a legal manner
and begin impeachment procedures against the organized criminal groups led by
Poroshenko,” he said, as reported by the UNIAN news agency.

 

Zenon Zawada: These
events confirm that the Poroshenko administration is in full conflict with
Western governments and instiutions. This has severely harmed his credibility
with the public both domestically and abroad, which had already been at low
levels before this political crisis. He is essentially becoming a lame duck
president, which creates enormous security risks for a nation that is trying to
resist Russian military aggression.

 

We believe that many key players, both in Ukraine and
abroad, are considering a means out of this crisis to be early elections. Not
only would that resolve the tensions in society, but they would also prevent
Poroshenko from further solidifying his authoritarian chain of command that would
enable falsifying the 2019 elections. Early elections have the support of
Saakashvili’s protest movement, the nationalist forces, as well as the
Fatherland and Self-Reliance parties in parliament.

 

Efforts are also being made behind the scenes to launch
a powerful reforms-oriented party for the 2019 elections that isn’t on the
radar screen yet. Western-educated pop star Sviatoslav Vakarchuk has been
floated as a possible presidential candidate for this party, while a slew of
reform-oriented MPs would be ready to lead its parliamentary list. This party
would be ready to lead another maidan protest if the elections are falsified.