Kholodnytskiy leaked info to investigation targets, Ukraine anti-corruption head alleges

Criminal charges were filed against Nazar
Kholodnytskiy, the head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecution, because
of evidence that he pressured officials and leaked information to those
targeted by various criminal investigations of the Odesa mayor’s office,
National Anti-Corruption Bureau Head Artem Sytnyk told the dt.ua news site in
an interview published on March 30. Odesa Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov and his officials
were being investigated for theft, bribery and other alleged crimes by the
National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine when it became aware of
Kholodnytskiy’s leaks, which also became apparent to the local officials of the
Prosecutor General’s Office. When anti-corruption detectives arrived in Odesa
to conduct searches, “they found that suspects very quickly, in an organized
way, had fled, while certain individuals were abroad for nearly two months,
‘resolving issues’ with judges from a long distance,” Sytnyk said, specifically
referring to Trukhanov’s long trips abroad.

Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko, who cooperated with
Sytnyk in the investigations of Kholodnytskiy, called for a disciplinary
commission among prosecutors to review the charges against Kholodnytskiy and
decide upon removing him from his post. Among the evidence against
Kholodnytskiy are wiretap recordings of him allegedly leaking information and
pressuring local prosecutors, pressuring judges for improper rulings and in one
case, pressuring a witness in a criminal case to give false testimony.

In his defense, Kholodnytskiy denied leaking
information and said he will request as his evidence at the hearings full
recordings of his conversations with individuals, as well as the results they
led to. “If, out of anger, you say that you would have killed someone, that
doesn’t confirm a murder attempt,” he told journalists on March 30, as reported
by the pravda.com.ua news site. He pointed out that he eventually signed off on
naming Trukhanov a suspect in criminal cases. As possible evidence in
Kholodnytskiy’s defense, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau allegedly delayed
with transferring a request for setting bail for Trukhanov the day of his
arrest, the pravda.com.ua news site reported, citing its sources in the
Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecution.

Zenon Zawada: Regardless
of who is at fault in this latest Ukrainian political intrigue, the accusations
do further damage to Ukraine’s anti-corruption efforts. Both the National
Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecution were
launched in 2015 to meet IMF requirements in establishing independent law
enforcement bodies to root out corruption that Ukrainian authorities weren’t
doing. The possible corruption of these very bodies gives the signal to Western
authorities that Ukrainians can’t be trusted to root out corruption, even when
given the proper financing, legal authority and political backing from the
West.

Unfortunately, the Kholodnytskiy-Sytnyk conflict will
significantly worsen Ukraine’s image among EU and IFI officials. The EuroMaidan
revolt of 2013-14 renewed Western trust in Ukraine and hopes for its
Euro-Atlantic future, and dispelled the bout of Ukraine fatigue brought on by
the Yanukovych administration. Meanwhile, this incident has enabled the
Poroshenko administration to undermine the credibility of anti-corruption
bodies that have targeted their entourage, and other connected politicians and
oligarchs, for investigation. Kholodnytskiy alleged he was approached with
offers to undermine the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, and it ended up being
Sytnyk who sided with the Prosecutor General’s Office after being in sharp
conflict with it.

We believe the Poroshenko administration will use
the Sytnyk-Kholodnytskiy conflict to try to convince the IMF to weaken its
stringent demands to create an independent anti-corruption court, which they
will say will only be effective if the work of the bureau and prosecution were
effective. It’s unclear how the IMF will respond to this latest tumultuous
chapter in Ukrainian politics.