The Council of Prosecutors of Ukraine appointed its four representatives to the Commission for the selection of the head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), as well as his deputies and other heads of departments. The Verkhovna Rada must appoint its representatives to the Commission by September 4.
This was stated by the head of the Council of Prosecutors Mykhaylo Misyura at the request of the Anti-Corruption Action Center. The decision was made on June 4, 2020.
Roman Kuybida, Nona Tsotsoriya, Drago Kos, and Thomas A. Firestone are delegated.
Roman Kuybida is the Deputy Chairman of the Board of the NGO Center for Political and Legal Reforms, member of the Public Integrity Council.
Nona Tsotsoriya is international consultant on evaluation and implementation of projects on human rights, fight against corruption, rule of law, and the former judge of the European Court of Human Rights.
Drago Kos is managing partner at the company RUR in areas of corporate integrity, anti-corruption, judicial audit, due diligence, anti-money laundering, asset tracking and recovery.
Thomas A. Firestone is former US Attorney and partner of the company Baker & Mackenzie. He has extensive experience in bodies of pre-trial investigation and the US Attorney’s Office, he has been working at the Department for Combating Organized Crime at the US Attorney’s Office in New York for 6 years, where he specialized in cases of Russian oligarchs and officials related to corruption and money laundering.
We should remind that 5-year term for which the head of the SAPO Nazar Kholodnytskyi has been appointed comes to an end in November 2020.
The Selection Commission consists of 11 people. Namely, 4 representatives of the Council of Prosecutors and 7 delegates from the Verkhovna Rada. Members of the Commission may be persons with impeccable business reputation, professional and moral qualities, who have public authority. Significant experience in the anti-corruption field is also required.
The law prohibits civil servants, officials who hold political positions, Members of Parliament and party members, military and law enforcement officials to be included to the Commission.
The Verkhovna Rada must appoint its representatives to the Commission within 3 months from selection of representatives by the Council of Prosecutors, namely until September 4. If the Parliament does not select anyone by then, the Commission will work with only 4 members from the Council of Prosecutors.
After selection of winner of the Competition to the position of the head of the SAPO, the Commission shall submit this candidate for appointment by the Prosecutor General. The same Commission also selects candidates to administrative positions at the SAPO. At present, the position of deputy head of the SAPO is also vacant.