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created among these (pre-existing) parcels. This is practically a collapse,” Leshchenko said. He added,” Any file in the cadaster could have been simply nullified and changed, based on, which a corporate raid could have been done.”
A judge with the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine, Oksana Oliynyk, ruled on October 1 in favour of a request by a NABU detective to place on leave for two months Zenoviy Kholodniuk, the head of the State Judicial Administration who is directly implicated in a corruption scandal ​involving Kyiv District Administrative Judge Pavlo Vovk, reported the Zero Corruption Telegram channel. Investigators of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) have alleged that Vovk and Kholodniuk plotted schemes, also involving other other judges, to seize power and control of key state institutions, including the Higher Qualifications Commission of Judges. For example, in exchange for guaranteeing a loyal nominee to the commission, Kholodniuk gained Vovk’s support for remaining in his post, despite a competition having already determined his replacement.
Ukraine’s Supreme Council of Justice –, which conducts the nomination and oversight of judges – requires a complete overhaul, ​according to a report published on October 9 by the European Commission for Democracy Through Law, also known as the Venice Commission, an advisory body of the Council of Europe. The assessments were part of an analysis of Bill No. 3711,” On the judiciary and the status of judges,”, which was submitted by the president in June. The report criticized the bill for not proposing plans to overhaul the council, despite campaign promises by the president and his party to do so. “The issue of the virtue of members of the Supreme Council of Justice is urgent and must be resolved without delay,” the report said. In the view of the ​pravda.com.ua​ news site,” Such direct and undiplomatic phrasing isn’t typical for the restrained language of the conclusions of the Venice Commission. It’s as though the Council of Europe experts are highly conscious of the current membership of the Supreme Council of Justice being the main defender of corruption in Ukrainian courts.” To renew the council, the report proposed forming an independent commission that includes international experts.​ ​The report, approved during the commission’s online conference on October 8-9 in Paris, also recommends that plans to reduce the number of Supreme Court judges not affect current judges. It approved the proposal to renew the Higher Qualifications Commission of Judges to improve the selection of first- and second-tier judges. The report’s recommendations were in line with Ukraine’s current requirements before the IMF and the E.U., the pravda.com.news site said. At the same time, the Supreme Council of Justice has insisted that it needs no reforms, particularly with the involvement of international experts.
Another well-known pro-Western reformer dropped out of the government yesterday, when President Zelensky replaced Aivaras Abromavicius as director-general of UkrOboronProm​, the state-owned defence production conglomerate. His successor is Ihor Fomenko, a top member of the Abromavicius team. The choice won cautious praise from the Independent Anti-Corruption defence Committee, or NAKO. This Kyiv-based think tank wrote on Facebook: “The NAKO team sincerely hopes that under Fomenko, the corporatization reforms and the inception of anti-graft standards of the OECD will continue to be effectively introduced.”
The Venice Commission has criticized Ukraine’s judicial reform
13​ UKRAINE Country Report​ November 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com