Sytnyk claims he remains NABU director

Artem Sytnyk is sure he remains the legitimate
director of the National Anticorruption Bureau (NABU), according to his Aug. 31
comments to Radio Liberty news site. Recall, Ukraine’s Constitutional Court ruled on Aug. 28 to recognize as unconstitutional
an order of President Poroshenko from April 2015 to appoint Sytnyk to the
position of NABU director.

According to Sytnyk, the Constitutional Court
explained that all the regulations of the NABU director remain valid. This
means that Sytnyk’s own order to assume power as NABU director is valid too.
Answering the question of Sytnyk’s attitude to the fact the office of President
Zelensky called him an acting NABU director, he said that he never received any
orders or recommendations on NABU operations from the presidential office.

Sytnyk also said that there are no legal reasons to
dismiss him. Moreover, he said that the Constitutional Court’s ruling (that the
president cannot appoint the NABU director) also means that the president
cannot dismiss him. He said that the parliament will have to adopt legislative
changes to resolve the legal collisions that emerged after the court’s ruling.

Earlier the same day, Zelensky repeated the statement
of his office that Sytnyk is acting NABU director. Namely, when answering a
question on who is acting NABU director now, Zelensky told nv.ua new site, “so
far, he [Sytnyk] is.” Zelensky also stated his position that he cannot dismiss
Sytnyk.

Alexander Paraschiy: Sytnyk’s
explanations look logical, and taking into account NABU’s institutional
independence, there is only a limited legal possibility of dismissing him now.
Therefore, it looks like there is a high chance for Sytnyk to remain at his
position till the end of his seven-year term, which expires in spring 2022.
However, we do not rule out that, under significant pressure, he will have to
write a request to be dismissed, as has happened to the head of central bank and the anti-corruption prosecutor
last summer. As long as Sytnyk remains at the position of NABU head, there is a
chance that Ukraine will be able to continue its smooth cooperation with IFIs.