Ukraine parliament approves bill to reset State Bureau of Investigations

Ukraine’s parliament approved on Dec. 3 the second
reading of a bill to reset the State Bureau of Investigations (DBR), which is the
law enforcement body responsible for investigating high-ranking state officials
and high-profile crimes. Among the bill’s provisions are dismissing current
head Roman Truba and his deputies, transferring much authority from the
deputies to the new head, enabling the new head to directly appoint and dismiss
his deputies and subunit heads, and creating a subunit to investigate
EuroMaidan crimes (employing its investigators at the Prosecutor General’s
Office). Rather than requiring cabinet approval, as currently, the new head’s
nomination is submitted to the president by a selection commission.

 

In arguing for the need for the legislation, Zelensky
announced on Dec. 3 that the current head’s “righthand man” is being
investigated for taking a USD 150K bribe by the National Anti-Corruption
Bureau. “One more argument for the need to reset the bureau’s leadership. This
institution was created as independent and objective. It will be unfortunate if
these good intentions aren’t fulfilled,” the president wrote on his Facebook
page. Not identified by the president, the likely official was identified by
the pravda.com.ua news site as Ihor Shcherbyna, who is reportedly tied to Truba
through godparent relations. In response, Truba said the alleged bribe occurred
when his deputy was still working at the Prosecutor General’s Office and his
bureau is immune to any bribery. His office’s work has become “inconvenient to
high-ranking officials,” he wrote in a Telegram post.

 

Critics of the bill, particularly the MPs of the European
Solidarity party led by former President Poroshenko, warned it merely expands
the president’s influence over the investigative body. “The DBR will become the
latest structure dependent on the President’s Office. That will strengthen the
formation of a police state in Ukraine with punitive-repressive bodies that
will work not to enforce the law, but to execute political orders,” said Iryna
Herashchenko, an MP and co-head of the European Solidarity parliamentary
faction.

 

Since Zelensky took office in May, Poroshenko and his
loyal MPs have alleged the DBR is being used by Zelensky for political
persecution against them, in cooperation with Andriy Portnov,
a lawyer who has long served as counsel for former President Yanukovych. The
President’s Office has denied any cooperation with Portnov, though Office Head
Andriy Bohdan has acknowledged that Portnov is a “longtime friend.” 

 

The DBR has pursued dozens of high-profile criminal
cases, most notably naming former President Poroshenko a suspect
in several crimes.

 

A likely candidate to replace Truba is Viktor Trepak,
the deputy prosecutor general who has been involved in numerous high-profile
anti-corruption cases in the last decade, including collecting evidence of the
“black book accounting” of the defunct Party of Regions (led by former
President Yanukovych). Trepak was named as the likely successor by the
pravda.com.ua news site, citing anonymous sources.

 

Zenon Zawada: It’s
amusing to see Truba at odds with the president, when he has been accused of
working hand-in-glove with the President’s Office (and Portnov) ever since
Zelensky took office in May. It’s worth considering that Truba was appointed by
former President Poroshenko. It appears that Truba has become more of a
liability than an asset for Zelensky, particularly after the leak onto the
Internet of audio-recordings of a voice, likely to be Truba’s, discussing
targets for political persecution with President’s Office Deputy Head Andriy
Smyrnov. Regardless, Truba’s successor will certainly be a loyal figure to
Zelensky.

 

As for the emerging police state, as being alleged by
Poroshenko’s allies, we see a strategy emerging in which the Zelensky
administration is exercising tight control over certain state bodies that it
views as critical to consolidating power (such as the SBU, the DBR, the Prosecutor
General’s Office, the Customs Service), and a more hands-off approach to others
(parliament, interior ministry, independent law enforcement bodies).

 

This is nothing new for Ukrainian politics and so far
we don’t see threats to Ukraine’s rule of law and democratic institutions.
Quite the contrary, we see the sprouts of a legitimate fight against
corruption.