Lutsenko moves towards dismissing Danylyuk, letter reveals
12 February 2018
Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko has taken measures
to begin the process of dismissing Finance Minister Oleksandr Danylyuk, as
reported on Feb. 10 by MP Serhiy Leshchenko on his blog on pravda.com.ua.
Citing an investigation by prosecutors of alleged tax evasion by Danylyuk,
Lutsenko urged Groysman to “prevent and monitor the conflict of interests of
this individual,” according to a copy of a letter dated Dec. 28, 2017, obtained
by Leshchenko, that Lutsenko sent to Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman. Such a
request means that resolving the conflict can only occur with Danylyuk’s
dismissal.
Lutsenko wrote the letter one week after Danylyuk
called for Lutsenko to resign at a Dec. 21 press briefing, accusing him of interfering
with the ministry’s attempts to investigate the multi-billion-dollar fraud
scheme alleged against the owners of and managers of nationalized Privatbank.
Instead of pursuing investigations of Privatbank officials, Lutsenko has been
initiating probes of National Bank and Finance Ministry officials, including
experts who are currently investigating Privatbank’s fraud, Danylyuk said.
Zenon Zawada: Danylyuk has
had a feud with President Poroshenko and Lutsenko ever since becoming finance
minister in April 2016, which has recently intensified. Danylyuk’s advantage in
this conflict is that he has strong relations with IMF officials, having earned
their trust. Meanwhile, Poroshenko has drawn harsh criticism from Western
finance officials. Late last year, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions even
declined to meet with Lutsenko in Washington after an attempt to arrange a
meeting by the Ukrainian Embassy.
So dismissing Danylyuk would not only damage
Ukraine’s already weak standing with the IMF, but also jeopardize receiving the
next loan tranche this year, which Ukraine so desperately needs. So not only
would Poroshenko and Lutsenko draw more Western criticism and ruin relations
further with Danylyuk’s dismissal, but they would also risk crippling themselves
politically by losing critical funds necessary for economic stability ahead of
next year’s elections.
