US calls on Ukraine to stop ‘undermining fight against corruption, attacks on NABU’

The United States has said it is deeply concerned by attacks on the work of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), the arrest of NABU detectives, and the seizure of sensitive NABU files by Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office.

In a message published on U.S Department of State website on Dec. 4, spokesperson Heather Nauert said attacks by the authorities on the NABU could wear away international support for Ukraine.

“These actions appear to be part of an effort to undermine independent anti-corruption institutions that the United States and others have helped support. They undermine public trust and risk eroding international support for Ukraine,” Nauert said.

During the press conference in Kyiv on Dec.1 NABU Head Artem Sytnyk accused the authorities, the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, of foiling all of the NABU’s undercover operations,  and of trying to destroy the bureau.

Sytnyk said that SBU and Prosecutor General’s Office had illegally published the photographs, passports, names, car license plates and addresses of NABU agents involved in an undercover operation of corruption case into the State Migration Service, obstructing the case.

In response, the SBU and Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko accused NABU detectives of provoking Dina Pimakhova, the first deputy head of the State Migration Service, to accept a bribe, and said the investigation against her had been conducted in violation of the law.

Hanna Hopko, the head of foreign relations committee of the Ukrainian parliament, wrote on Facebook on Dec. 5 that the State Department statement was a blunt signal from Ukraine’s key strategic partner, the United States, which has rallied international support for Ukraine in its struggle against Russian aggression.

Nauert said that the United States called on all branches of Ukraine’s government to work together cooperatively to eliminate corruption, as it is a key to the stability, security, and prosperity of Ukraine. And the anti-corruption institutions must be supported, resourced and defended, she said.

Saakashvili arrest

However, in Ukraine such joint work between law enforcement agencies is far from being realized.

Daria Kaleniuk, the executive director of the Anti-Corruption Action Center, wrote on Facebook on Dec. 4 that the State Department message had been aimed at Lutsenko and Poroshenko.

“I will translate from the diplomatic language the Americans used. It was a direct message to Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko and Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko. And the message said: You guys went too far,” Kaleniuk wrote.

“You (Poroshenko and Lutsenko) attacked the only law enforcement agency the United States trusted and had invested a lot in.  If you don’t stop, Ukraine will lose all international support,” Kaleniuk added.

Kaleniuk was writing from Washington D.C., where she was attending the Global Forum on Asset Recovery together with NABU head Sytnyk and Nazar Kholodnytskiy, the head of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine.

According to the U.S State Department’s official website, the forum aims to facilitate the recovery of stolen assets from four countries – Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, and Ukraine – by convening more than 150 law enforcement officials, prosecutors, and financial center representatives to discuss ongoing asset recovery cases related to the four focus countries. Approximately 20 countries are expected to participate.

Kaleniuk wrote that every country at the forum was represented by their chief prosecutors and ministers – apart from Ukraine.

Lutsenko, who was supposed to make a joint statement with U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions during the forum, canceled his visit several hours before its official start on Dec. 4.

Lutsenko apparently missed the forum because he was busy organizing the Dec. 5 arrest of Mikhail Saakashvili, the ex-president of Georgia and former Odesa Oblast governor.

“I was planning to attend the forum, together with Interior Minister Arsen Avakov and Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko, but we had to stay in Kyiv because we were busy doing our job on Saakashvili’s case,” Lutsenko said during a press conference in Kyiv on Dec. 5.

“I had plenty to speak about. For example, the $1.5 billion in assets stolen by former President Viktor Yanukovych that were recovered by the Prosecutor General’s Office,” Lutsenko added.

“But Sytnyk is there, and he can speak about the NABU’s recovery of Hr 26,000 – also a good result,” Lutsenko said with sarcasm.

However, Kaleniuk wrote that despite Sytnyk’s and Kholodnitskiy’s presence in Washington, it was Ukraine’s Ambassador to the United States Valeriy Chaliy who represented the country at the official opening of the forum.

“The Prosecutor General’s Office didn’t even let Sytnyk and Kholodnytskiy speak on behalf of Ukraine,” Kaleniuk wrote.

No war

Lutsenko during the press conference in Kyiv on Dec. 5 said there was no war between the NABU and the Prosecutor General’s Office. Of the 50 cases that the NABU has sent to the courts in 2017, 20 were investigated together with the Prosecutor General’s Office.

“But I can’t close my eyes to the violations of Ukrainian law made by several NABU officers during the investigation (involving Pimakhova),” Lutsenko said.

According to him, there is no term “NABU agent” in Ukrainian legislation, it is a “term borrowed from the FBI.”

“There are only staff and non-staff officers. Two (of the staff officers) are currently being questioned in the Prosecutor General’s Office,” Lutsenko said.

Lutsenko claimed it was NABU’s press service, who first revealed the names and addresses of its “agents”. The NABU’s press service denied that.

Asked whether he was afraid of spoiling relations with Ukraine’s international partners, Lutsenko said: “My wish to have good relations with our geopolitical partners can’t make me close my eyes to violations of Ukrainian law.”