Ukraine prosecutor general makes questioned appointments

Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko appointed on June 7 Dmytro Sus as head of the administration to investigate economic crimes, as reported on the prosecutor general’s website. Sus is a controversial figure, having allegedly led investigations personally requested by Ihor Kononenko, a close associate to the president who has been accused of corruption by key officials. This has been alleged by MP Serhiy Leshchenko. Sus was also involved in alleged persecution campaigns conducted against U.S.-backed reformers David Sakvarelidze and Vitaliy Kasko, both former deputy prosecutors.

Lutsenko also promoted Oleksiy Nychyporenko as head of a criminal investigations department in the Prosecutor General’s Office, the official website reported on June 7. He is the son of MP Valentyn Nychyporenko, who belongs to the Renaissance group of MPs that supported legislation that enabled Lutsenko to become prosecutor general. Oleksiy has been a prosecutor since 2013, leading investigations against EuroMaidan activists and allegedly sabotaging investigations of key officials, reported the antikor.com.ua web site.

Zenon Zawada: Lutsenko has shown a pattern of making key appointments based on the standard Ukrainian formula – placing reformers out front in the display case, while quietly divvying up key posts in the back room, based proportionately on political patronage. While Lutsenko called a press conference to announce his reformers, these appointments were limited to the website. Time will tell but so far we’ve seen no breakthroughs from Lutsenko. On a positive note, several old guard prosecutors, including Yuriy Sevruk, announced their resignations (at Lutsenko’s request).