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Ukraine’s Supreme Court ruled on September 6 to reject a complaint to overturn a presidential decree appointing Pavlo Zhebrivskiy as auditor of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine . The court said the case could not be reviewed in an administrative court, the Anti-Corruption Action Centre reported. The complaint was filed by MP Serhiy Vlasenko, the lawyer for Yulia Tymoshenko, the president’s leading challenger in elections scheduled for March. Meanwhile, Zhebrivskiy is a trusted confidante of President Poroshenko, who has been accused by the centre’s head, Vitaliy Shabunin, of undermining the bureau’s work. Transparency International and the Anti-Corruption Action Centre also argued that Zhebrivskiy doesn’t meet the requirements for auditor, who is supposed to have legal experience, particularly in Western structures. It also proves the president continues to exert influence over court rulings, the centre said. “Closing the case in response to the president’s claim proves the court’s bias since no other court is authorized to resolve this conflict,” the centre said in a statement. These critics have also pointed out that the auditor is among only a handful of authorities capable of dismissing the bureau's head, giving the president excessive influence over this body. Even with the creation of what was supposed to be an independent anti-corruption bureau, the president is finding ways to influence its authority in investigating cases. It’s also worth noting that the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, created in tandem with the bureau, is widely accused of being corrupt and aligned with the president. These conflicts already are undermining the integrity and trust in the High Anti-Corruption Court that will be launched and indicate that the president could find ways to also restrict its independence. These events show investors that Ukraine’s leadership is not interested in improving the situation with rule of law, which will be a very slow process.
The second quarter of 2018 was marked by a considerable slowdown of reforms ; the average value of iMoRe – Index for Monitoring Reforms – went down to +0.5 points, the lowest level since the beginning of 2015. In the preceding quarter, the iMoRe value was +0.9 (within a range from -5.0 to +5.0).
Speaker Andriy Parubiy opened the fall session of Ukraine’s parliament on Sept. 4 highlighting its main priorities, which he identified as amending the constitution to include Euro-Atlantic integration, approving the 2019 budget, updating the elections code and appointing new members to the Central Election Commission. The prior day, he sent a tweet identifying seven key legislative blocks, consisting of national security, the 2019 budget, the elections code, a language law, Euro-integration bills, economic issues and eliminating political immunity. In the sphere of security, parliament will review bills on reforming the security service, intelligence bodies, state defence contracting, and creating a parliamentary committee to oversee security and intelligence, Parubiy told an agenda meeting on Sept. 3. Ensuring information security is also a priority, he said. More than 20 bills required for Euro-integration are ready for review, he said. President Poroshenko has registered in parliament legislation amending the Ukrainian constitution to ensure the nation’s Euro-Atlantic integration course, said on Sept. 3 Iryna Lutsenko, the president’s representative to parliament. The president also proposes legislation charging rent for the temporary stationing of foreign military formations on Ukraine’s territory, she said, referring to the stationing of Russian military vessels in occupied Crimea.
15 UKRAINE Country Report October 2018 www.intellinews.com