Page 18 - bne IntelliNews newspaper 14 July 2017

Eastern Europe
July 14, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 18
EU backs down on Ukraine anti-corruption court
bne IntelliNews
The European Union (EU) does not insist on the establishment of a separate anti-corruption court in Ukraine, and Brussels has agreed with authori- ties in Kyiv to establish a special anti-corruption chamber of the Ukrainian Supreme Court instead, President of the European Commission Jean- Claude Juncker told journalists on July 12.
"We agreed to establish a special anti-corruption chamber designed to struggle against corruption and we do not insist on the establishment of a separate anti-corruption court," the media office of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko quoted Juncker as saying.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) insists that an independent anti-corruption court should be set up. According to the lender's agreement with Ukraine, Kyiv should secure the passage
of legislation necessary for creating a new anti- corruption court by mid-June. The court should become operational by early 2018.
Juncker's statement immediately triggered bitter criticism among Ukrainian reformers. Specifically, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) said in a statement published on July 13 that there is no alternative to the court. "Probably Juncker's statement is the result of [Kyiv's] de- liberate misinformation with regard to European partners," the agency said in a statement.
Ukraine's office of the Transparency Internation- al anti-corruption NGO has "categorically" con- demned the idea to replace the existing courts by the anticorruption chambers. "The anti-corrup- tion court is the only one Ukraine really needs," the organisation's statement reads.
"Chambers which have to replace the existing courts are dependent and subjected to the external control. They will fail to guarantee fair punishment for corruption crimes, but will also become effective instruments of bribe-takers," Transparency International's executive director Yaroslav Yurchyshyn believes. "It is expected the chambers will be formed, actually, of judges currently delaying and obstructing legal cases submitted by the NABU and Anti-corruption Prosecutor’s Office."
Meanwhile, Juncker added that the fight against corruption is "not instruments, but intentions and convictions that the Ukrainian society is willing to struggle against corruption, which in fact avoids all the efforts within the country to move forward".
"If you do not ruin corruption at all branches, investors won’t come to Ukraine," Juncker added. "It must be the most important battle."