Prosecutor General Venediktova accused of corruption by predecessor

Prosecutor General of Ukraine Iryna Venediktova is
returning state prosecutors who failed recertification tests, which were
organized to improve the fairness of Ukrainian law enforcement and remove those
who are beholden to special interests, her predecessor, Ruslan Riaboshapka,
alleged in a May 6 blog post on the pravda.com.ua news site. “In this sense,
President Zelensky in no way differs from President Poroshenko, who in the same
way – using the hands of his prosecutor general – didn’t allow for the
possibility to conduct reforms in the prosecutor’s office needed for Ukraine in
2015-2016,” he wrote.

Both Zelensky and Venediktova “have decided not to
worry about legal procedures and simply have begun to appoint ‘the right
people’ to positions in the Prosecutor General’s Office without the legally
required competitive selection and recertification processes,” he wrote.
Moreover, Veneditkova has blocked international members of the administrative
commission responsible for approving final appointments, instead appointing
those loyal to her, Riaboshapka wrote, without mentioning any names.

In response to the accusations, Venediktova said in a
May 8 video announcement that reforms are ongoing, including the
recertification process, which will be renewed after the quarantine. She
pointed out that more than 600 court complaints have been filed by dismissed
prosecutors who failed recertification, and a group of MPs is challenging the
constitutionality of the undertaken reforms. They have resulted in more than
30% of prosecutors being dismissed, which “may destabilize the work of a
particular prosecutor’s office, but significantly influence the functioning of
the law enforcement system as a whole,” she said.

Zenon Zawada: On the one
hand, we see that Riaboshapka is building his career as a Washington-aligned
advocate for combatting corruption in Ukraine’s prosecutor general’s office,
alongside his former deputy, Vitaliy Kasko. He is far more vocal now than
during his six months as prosecutor general, when he should have been
highlighting his attempts at maintaining and advancing reforms. He might have
even had enough public support to block his dismissal.

On the other hand, we agree with Riaboshapka’s
conclusions that Venediktova is not committed to rule of law nor pro-Western
reforms, being appointed to maintain the corrupt status quo. She conforms to
the Zelensky administration’s approach of day-to-day political survival,
finding short-term, one-off solutions to problems without any strategic vision
to speak of. Venediktova’s appointment was a concession to Ukraine’s corrupt
elites.