The Committee of the Verkhovna Rada determined new nominees to the Commission on selection of the SAPO’s head from Opposition Platform For Life, Dovira and Servant of the People, who again do not comply with the law

Today, at 9 a.m. the Verkhovna Rada Law Enforcement Committee determined new nominees to the Commission for selection of the head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office. This time the Committee selected representatives, nominated by the Opposition Platform For Life, the Servant of the People and the group Dovira, without interviewing candidates. Candidates selected by the Committee will be put for the vote in the Verkhovna Rada.

Some of the nominees of factions are the same that the Committee has submitted last time and who were not supported. None of new candidates submitted by Dovira and Opposition Platform For Life, as well as those previously submitted by Servant of the People, comply with the law. They have no experience in the anti-corruption field, and they do not have an impeccable business reputation, high professional and moral qualities, and public authority.

Moreover, according to public information, the NABU and the SAPO have criminal proceedings where subjects are Members of Parliament from Opposition Platform For Life and Dovira. This creates potential conflict of interest for these groups and factions and may indicate their desire to get influence on the appointment of prosecutor who will later make decisions in such proceedings.

The Committee selected Andriy Gudzhala from Opposition Platform For Life.

He has worked in the prosecutor’s office until 2019, and later he became the attorney. He is appealing against his dismissal from the prosecutor’s office in fall 2019, when cleaning of the prosecutor’s office began. He probably refused to pass certification or did not pass it.

The ex-prosecutor, who wants to select the head of the SAPO, obviously has problems with his declarations. In declaration in 2016 he did not submit any housing in Kyiv or suburbs. Although, he started to work in the PGO in March 2016.

Since 2017 he has been submitting on the declaration the use of apartment in Sofiyivska Borshchagivka with the total area of 86 sq. m., owned by Gudzhal Nina Petrovna (probably his mother). At the same time, the ex-prosecutor did not specify the value as of the date of acquisition (as well as the date itself), and the value, according to the latest estimate, is 305,000 UAH, which is much lower than the market price of apartments in this residential complex.

Judging by declarations of Gudzhal Nina Petrovna in 2016 and in 2017, she did not have enough legal income to buy this apartment. She did not mention in her declaration that she was Member of Parliament of the local council in Vinnytsya region. Instead, she states that she is “retiree”, and tries to hide at least part of her declarations from undue attention. And there is something we should pay attention to. In 2016, she had pension in the amount of 24,000 UAH, and her monetary assets amounted to 20,000 USD.

Andriy Gudzhal stated in his autobiography that his wife is the laboratory assistant at Sinevo. In 2018, her income was about 7,000 UAH, in 2017 and 2016, it was about 10,000 UAH, and in 2015, it was 12,000 UAH. She submits ownership of 18,000 USD in cash in her last declaration with such income.

When Gudzhal submitted the car in declaration, he did not specify the model of his “Mazda” and significantly underestimated its value, indicating only 8.000 USD. Although, the price for the cheapest and smallest models is higher.

Ganna Vlasova and Bogdan Romanyuk were selected from Dovira.

Ganna Vlasova is member of the editorial board of the Forensic Bulletin, which was founded by the State Scientific and Research Forensic Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the National Academy of Internal Affairs. She is also member of the editorial board of the Bulletin of the Academy of the Prosecutor’s Office and the editorial board of the International Legal Bulletin, which is apparently headed by her father.

Vlasova is the co-founder of the Law Association Gryshakov, Vlasova and Partners. Although, the bureau was registered in October 2019, it resumed its legal activities in 2016 and did not report any income from it, according to YouControl.

In the declaration in 2018, which she submitted as the candidate to the HQCJ, the HCJ and the SBI, she submitted the son and the daughter. According to declaration, the apartment belongs to the daughter, but she stated that the owner did not provide information about value as of the date of acquisition. The date of acquisition is December 31, 2018. The age of children is not known. But since she received alimony from her ex-husband in 2018, the daughter seems to have been underage at that time, because the alimony payer has the same last name as the daughter.

The car Toyota worth 49,000 UAH and purchased on October 16, 2018 is also registered on the daughter. Vlasova submits the actual place of residence in Irpen, but she does not submit any real estate in this city, even for rent or use.

Ganna Vlasova did not submit the father of her son and common-law husband Andriy Vlasov in the declaration. He is the head of the Department of the Expert Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. He submitted her in his declaration in 2019.

Bogdan Romanyuk is the Associate Professor of Transport Law and Logistics of the National Transport University, Candidate of Law, Lieutenant General.

During 1977–1994 Romanyuk held senior positions in the central apparatus of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine: Deputy, First Deputy Head of the Main Investigation Department, First Deputy Head of the Main Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. From 1994 to 1997 he was the head of the Regional Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Lviv region. In 1997, he was sent to the Interdepartmental Scientific and Research Center for Combating Organized Crime under the Coordinating Committee for Combating Corruption and Organized Crime under the President of Ukraine (subordinated to the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine).

Bogdan Romanyuk is primarily connected with the detention of well-known serial maniac Onoprienko, the so-called “Bratkovets murderer”.

According to media reports, at one time Romanyuk was “asked” to resign the position of the head of Lviv police for alleged involvement in beating of participants in mass actions of nationalist forces.

The Committee selected Vitaliy Kuts, Yevhen Sobol, Oleksiy Drozd and Vyacheslav Navrotskyi from the Servant of the People.

Vitaliy Kuts is the Vice-Rector for Research at the National Academy of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine. In 2016, his wife Trynyova Yana indicated in the declaration of the candidate for the position that she was registered and lived in the village of Chayky. However, she does not indicate any real estate at this address. Although, according to the State Register of Real Property Rights, Kuts became the owner of an apartment in the village Chayky in December 2015.

We should remind that Academy of the Public Prosecutor’s Office is liquidated by the legislation, in particular, because of low efficiency. Today, the Training Center has been established instead of it. Kutz stated that his anti-corruption experience is his involvement in work with anti-corruption legislation since 1995. While he was working at the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, he worked with then scandalous vice-rector of the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and former Member of Parliament Bandurka O.M., and also developed the special course for prosecutors on anti-corruption.

When he was asked about scandals when the police had stopped his son due to drug intoxication, Kuts answered that his son had been acquitted and the court had not imposed penalty due to improperly submitted report by the police. At the same time, there are several cases in the Register of Court Decisions regarding such violations by his son. For one of them he was found guilty and imposed fine in 2017.

Yevhen Sobol is the head of the Department of State Legal Disciplines and Administrative Law of Volodymyr Vynnychenko Central Ukrainian State Pedagogical University. In April 2019, he and his wife bought one-room apartment. The market value of apartment in the same area is about 100.000 USD.

Oleksiy Drozd works as the head of the Doctoral and Adjunct Department of the National Academy of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.

In his declaration, he indicates the purchase of the land plot with the total area of 0.24 hectares worth 49.594 UAH in the village Khotiv, Kyiv region, in 2017, although the market value of the land plot may be much higher. Also in 2018, his wife bought Volkswagen Golf (manufactured in 2015 ) worth 179.000 UAH. Today, the cost of the used car of the same brand ranges from 265.000 UAH to 415.000 UAH.

Vyacheslav Navrotskyi isthe Professor of the Department of Theory of Law and Human Rights at the Ukrainian Catholic University. He is the founder and head of NGO Lviv Forum of Criminal Justice and NGO Western Ukrainian Center for Reconciliation and Human Rights Consensus.

***

We should recall that voting for doubtful Commission and candidates, who do not comply with the law, regarding selection of the head of the SAPO violates conditions of visa-free travel with the European Union and may be the trigger mechanism for its suspension or even reconsideration.

On Wednesday, July 15, Members of Parliament failed to vote for doubtful candidates proposed by the Law Enforcement Committee. Moreover, these candidates did not comply with paragraph 3, part 2, article 8-1 of the Law “On the Prosecutor’s Office”: “Members of the Competition Commission must be persons who have impeccable business reputation, high professional and moral qualities, public authority, as well as significant experience in preventing or combating corruption”. Later that day, the Law Enforcement Committee voted for the fact that parliamentary groups and factions have to submit their new proposals regarding candidates within 24 hours.

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