He was ultimately acquitted by three separate courts and is now serving in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Omelyan was accused of causing harm to the state budget by implementing a policy, approved by the then-cabinet of ministers in 2017, that cut port fees by 20 percent as part of a wider push towards deregulation. HABm0Lhb20- Josh Rudolph JAt an anti-corruption event held on June 23, NABU head Semen Kryvonos struggled to answer a question regarding the cases of Kobolyev and Pivovarsky.Īlthough charges against the trio of reformers have been brought by Ukraine's anti-corruption bodies, they are not charges of corruption. Watch the most sensational moment of our Ukraine anti-corruption event last week, when Managing Director Christoph Denk put the head of on the spot, pointing to our new research to ask why they're prosecuting reputable reformers who haven't engaged in corruption.
When asked which of Ukraine's power players most deserved to receive increased scrutiny from anti-corruption organs, they came up with a very different list of names. Newsweek conducted multiple interviews with Ukrainian anti-corruption activists, investigative journalists, members of parliament, business figures, and current and former officials. Suspicions have been aroused within Ukraine as well. "I don't know the extent to which the current prosecutors are listening to or trying to anticipate what Zelensky's administration might want, but there are definitely signs of a vendetta against Poroshenko and Poroshenko's people. federal prosecutor who served as a special advisor to Ukraine's Prosecutor General from 2016-2017, told Newsweek. "On the merits, these cases make no sense whatsoever," Bohdan Vitvitsky, a former U.S. "There are still corrupt patronage networks throughout Ukraine, at all levels, and those would seem like more appropriate targets for investigation and prosecutions," said Rudolph, referring to the cases against the three reformers. Ukraine's anti-corruption institutions have made progress since the ouster of former President Viktor Yanukovich following the 2014 Euromaidan revolution, with the setting up of a National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and a Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) under Poroshenko.īut progress has been uneven, including under Zelensky, who defeated Poroshenko in a 2019 election.
Zelensky's office did not respond to Newsweek's requests for comment. and Ukraine jointly hosted the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2023, which focused on mobilizing international support for Ukraine's economic and social recovery from the effects of Russia's war. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak introduces Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky as he appears on the screen at the opening session on the first day of the Ukraine Recovery Conference at InterContinental London O2 on June 21, in London, England. "I've spoken with a number of investment executives, with current and former senior officials in Washington, Brussels, London, Berlin, with figures from international financial institutions who follow Ukrainian state-owned companies as closely as anyone in the Western world," Rudolph added, "and it's spooking them that reputable reformers who do not appear to have engaged in corruption are being brought up on charges like these." "Targeting reformers who came into government out of a sense of civic duty and who, by all accounts, did their jobs well, will threaten Ukraine's ability to attract talented executives to enter public service, and it could dampen the willingness of outside corporate investors to put money into reconstruction projects," Josh Rudolph, head of the Malign Finance & Corruption team at the German Marshall Fund's Alliance for Securing Democracy, told Newsweek. The accused three are former Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan, his predecessor Andriy Pivovarsky, and former head of state gas company Naftogaz Andriy Kobolyev. The cases that have most jolted outside observers are those of three technocratic reformers in the administration of former President Petro Poroshenko who were highly regarded internationally as being competent-and none of whom has been accused of abusing official power for personal gain. Concerns over any mishandling of the fight against graft under Zelensky could raise questions not only over current support, but also over the prospect for reconstruction funds when the fighting ends. A string of cases by Ukraine's anti-corruption bodies against widely respected officials in the administration of President Volodymyr Zelensky's predecessor has prompted accusations of a political plot and alarmed foreign donors.Įndemic corruption in Ukraine has long been used as an argument by those who oppose the massive Western support for its forces battling Russia's invasion.
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