Vovk becomes first political exile under Zelensky, alleging persecution

Dmytro Vovk, among the key suspects in the Rotterdam
Plus criminal case, confirmed that he’s abroad in an Aug. 19 Facebook post,
adding that he won’t return to Ukraine because he doesn’t believe in a fair
trial. Law enforcement authorities, anti-corruption investigators and
prosecutors and the judicial system as a whole are not independent and being
directed by the President’s Office, Vovk wrote. He said he doesn’t have any
courts or authorities in his pocket to protect him. “I would come to court with
satisfaction, but I’m not ready to participate in a show trial,” he said.

Vovk headed the National State Energy Regulation
Commission in March 2016 when it adopted the Rotterdam Plus formula for electricity
pricing, which law enforcement authorities allege was a corruption scheme that
illegally benefitted, among others, Ukraine’s leading power producer, DTEK
Energy (DTEKUA), at the expense of the public. Vovk is among eight suspects
named in the criminal case being investigated by the National Anti-Corruption
Bureau of Ukraine. Two of the suspects are confirmed to be abroad, Bureau Head
Artem Sytnyk said on Aug. 16, and will be placed on international search.

Zenon Zawada: If Ukrainian
President Zelensky and his team fulfill their promise to punish high-ranking
officials under the Poroshenko administration, Vovk will be the first of what
should be an entire wave of political exiles. And they will be actively working
to undermine the Zelensky administration’s credibility, along with the
Poroshenko entourage (represented in parliament by the European Solidarity
party) and the pro-Russian forces, led by Boyko-Medvedchuk (Opposition Platform
For Life party). So in our view, Zelensky’s political survival depends on the
active criminal prosecution and conviction of high-ranking officials, including
the former president himself. But to remove claims of political persecution,
some Yanukovych-era officials should be considered for prosecution as well.