Political Points for 24 September – 1 October 2018

Yuriy Lutsenko alleged that NABU shows no results of its work

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1. CPLR expert opinion

On September 23, the Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko in an interview to TSN.Tyzhden said: “It’s easy to call someone corruptors, scammers who want evil all over the country, but it’s the way to nowhere. This is the road to nowhere, which, unfortunately, is persistently followed by the leadership of NABU”. After that he stated that NABU shows no results of its work. “They do not exist,” added the Prosecutor General.

2. Respective authorities counter-point/argument

As a counter-argument, NABU demonstrates the results of its work in 2016–2018, as well as the conclusions of international experts  which state that NABU is currently the most effective specialized anti-corruption body in Ukraine. In particular, over two and a half years, NABU completed pre-trial investigation under 155 criminal proceedings and sent them to the court, many of which concern most top corrupt officials. As of October 1, 2018, there are still 644 criminal proceedings being investigated by NABU detectives, of which 161 notices of suspicion have already been made.

3. CPLR assessment of the authorities counter-point

Taking into account the problems with which NABU faces almost daily in their activities, the counter-arguments of NABU look more than convincing.

4. Related legislation/instructions which require the authorities act in a certain manner

None

5. CPLR expert suggestions on how to fix the problem using the legal instruments available in Ukraine

Indeed, the general situation with ensuring the inevitability of criminal responsibility for committing corruption offenses does not look very encouraging. NABU manages to reveal only a small part of corruption-related crimes committed by high-ranking officials. Pre-trial investigation in such proceedings often takes more than a year. Only 21 verdicts of guilty were given in the proceedings completed by NABU, and just a few persons were sentenced to “real” punishment in the form of imprisonment.

At the same time, the absolute majority of these problems is not due to the NABU actions/omissions, but the peculiarities of obtaining certain evidence (for example, often detectives have to apply for international legal assistance), drawbacks in the criminal and criminal procedural law (in particular, the so-called “Lozovyi Amendments”), deliberate delaying and rendering innoxious of cases in the courts, as well as permanent interinstitutional conflicts (NABU – special anti-corruption prosecutor’s office (SAP), SAP – General Prosecutor’s Office (GP), NABU – GP).

Therefore, in order for the fight against top level corruption to be more effective, the following actions should be taken:

1.  making thorough analysis of the causes of long or poor-quality investigation of individual crimes;
2.  introducing all necessary amendments to the criminal and criminal procedural legislation;
3.  launching the High Anticorruption Court as soon as possible;
4.  establishing effective cooperation between NABU and SAP;
5.  ensuring powerful scientific and expert support to NABU and SAP.