Lutsenko only prosecutor general candidate, Ukraine speaker says

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is only considering Yuriy Lutsenko as Ukraine’s next prosecutor general, Parliamentary Head Andriy Parubiy told the 5 Channel news network on May 6. The president didn’t mention any other candidates when they spoke, Parubiy said, adding that Lutsenko’s candidacy is optimal. He said he hopes parliament will consider this week amendments to the prosecutor general law, which would allow Lutsenko to become nominated, and Lutsenko’s nomination for the post.

Acting Prosecutor General Yuriy Sevruk said on May 6 that he has asked the Prosecutors Council to recommend a candidate to the post of Odesa regional prosecutor, which was vacated with the late March dismissal of David Sakvarelidze. Sakvaredlize’s work in Ukraine was endorsed by the U.S. government and his dismissal was the last gesture by former Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, whose work was criticized by the U.S. government.

Zenon Zawada: Parubiy’s statement deserves the concern of investors considering that appointing a genuine, corruption-fighting prosecutor general is among the key demands of Western leaders. The next IMF loan tranche of USD 1.7 bln, USD 1 bln in loan guarantees and other loans are all dependent on who will emerge as the next prosecutor general.

In the last week of April, Lutsenko himself said he’s not interested in being a “decorative prosecutor general.” And that will be the case for as long as the Prosecutors Council is in place, which will determine all personnel appointments and dismissals. So the process has reached a dead end unless a new candidate is endorsed by the president.

Considering the political machinations we’ve seen in recent years, we see the scenario emerging of the president delaying the nomination of the new prosecutor general, through the use of indirect manipulations, in order to leave in place the acting prosecutor general, Yuriy Sevruk, who represents the old guard of corrupt insiders, according to Ukraine’s Anti-Corrpution Action Center.

The emergence of the Prosecutors Council in late April only aids the president in his manipulations of the prosecutor general’s office. That way, the West and its NGO arms in Kyiv can’t accuse him of appointing a corrupt official and he keeps the loyal ring of protectors of corrupt schemes in place. As for Western financing, Poroshenko has demonstrated that he doesn’t see that as much as of a priority as resisting anti-corruption efforts.