Ukraine: Zelensky deals a fatal blow to the fight against corruption in his country

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, December 4, 2019 Sergei SUPINSKY / AFP

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2 min

Is the fight against corruption being erased from the political agenda in Ukraine? In any case, this is the question that arises after President Volodymyr Zelensky this weekend endorsed a decision of the Constitutional Council which declared invalid the leadership of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, the Nabu, the main institution of the country in this field.

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With our correspondent in Kiev, Stéphane Siohan

Created in 2014, in the wake of the Maidan revolution, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau is a sort of small Ukrainian FBI, which investigates major corruption cases and prepares cases for prosecution.

Appointed in 2015, its director, Artem Sytnyk, very quickly became the bête noire
of all the oligarchs of the country because the 700 employees of the agency, in a very independent way, unearthed massive scandals, all over the place, even targeting the entourage of the former president.

In 2017, Petro Poroshenko already tried to fire Artem Sytnyk, but the European Union and the FBI are working with the agency, and diplomats narrowly prevented him from doing so.  

In recent times, the Nabu has particularly investigated the corruption and money laundering that concern the affairs of the pro-Russian oligarch Rinat Akhmetov, as well as those of billionaire Ihor Kolomoisky, the very one who propelled the career of Volodymyr Zelensky.

For several months, relatives of these oligarchs have asked the president for
the skin of the director of Nabu. By giving it to them via a questionable legal decision, Volodymyr Zelensky, the “servant of the people”, has undoubtedly dealt a fatal blow to anti-corruption justice in his country.

► See also: Ukraine: explosion of the house of the main anti-corruption activist

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  • Ukraine
  • Corruption
  • Volodymyr Zelensky

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