Dmitry Storozhuk
While Ukrainian citizens protest rallies across the country against "crony" appointments to the prosecutor's office, positions in the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine are being carved up behind the scenes of the new government. And while the media is actively discussing who should become the next Prosecutor General—a prominent politician or a professional lawyer—very little attention is being paid to the candidates for other important positions in this crucial structure during the country's reforms.
For example, it's no secret that Dmitry Storozhuk, a representative of the People's Front faction, is eyeing the position of First Deputy Prosecutor General. The fact that such a strategically important position is once again being appointed based on party quotas, rather than on professional suitability and service to the country's interests, is no longer even a secret. But let's at least try to determine whether Dmitry Storozhuk is a well-known politician or a highly professional lawyer? Or has this position once again been given to an insider to protect the interests of the party leadership?
Dmytro Storozhuk's career began recently due to his young age – he is currently only 30 years old. A native of Vinnytsia, Dmytro left his hometown at 16 and enrolled in law school at the National University of Internal Affairs in Kyiv. Nothing is known about Dmytro's academic years, suggesting a lack of outstanding results or even active public involvement. Instead, Mr. Storozhuk immediately began working in his field as a legal consultant at a law firm. By the end of 2008, he held the rather unflattering position of head of the Central Claims and Litigation Division of the Department of Monitoring and Recovery of Accounts Receivable at Dogmat Ukraine CJSC.
In other words, Dmitry Storozhuk was extorting household loans from poor Ukrainian citizens who lacked the money to buy essential goods. We can only guess at the means by which Dmitry Storozhuk extorted money from Ukrainians, as well as how many mortgaged apartments and other real estate he seized (officially and unofficially) from poor grandmothers. But just a year later, the company officially declared bankruptcy, and the entire legal department had recently been laid off without pay for 2009. All this suggests that Dogmat Ukraine CJSC was engaged in major financial fraud, and Storozhuk, the chief legal officer, undoubtedly played an active role in it.
After holding several other jobs (interesting fact: Dmytro Storozhuk never held a job for more than a year!), the lawyer, with extensive experience in "money laundering" and "extortion," joined the legal department of the "Front for Change" in 2012. There, he became "one of the guys," applying his "professional talents" to the party's top leadership, and was rewarded for his efforts—the position of Chairman of the State Executive Service of Ukraine (SES).
Upon assuming his first public office, 28-year-old Dmytro Storozhuk immediately launched a sweeping personnel purge, citing "anti-corruption reforms." However, Maryna Lukyanova, Head of the Rivne Oblast State Enforcement Service Department with 30 years of experience and a mother of three, comments on Dmytro Storozhuk's work as follows: "People come to meetings, write complaints, and express outrage at the State Enforcement Service's performance... Dmytro Storozhuk, in order to distance himself from his own work, organizes comprehensive inspections in the regions, after which he promises to fire all those responsible. And does he even assess his own culpability for these shortcomings that have emerged over the past six months? If I worked like Dmytro Storozhuk, my subordinates would pelt me with rotten tomatoes."
Fortunately or unfortunately, the country didn't have time to see and appreciate the results of Dmytro Storozhuk's "great reforms" in the State Information System (GIS), as he was dismissed after only six months in office and, without completing what he had started, was elected to the Verkhovna Rada in 2014 on the People's Front party list (No. 56). In the Verkhovna Rada, professional technologists cultivated the image of the dimwitted (it's worth watching the video of his speeches immediately after his election!), but very ambitious and obliging Dmytro Storozhuk as a "professional lawyer," and he became the public mouthpiece for all unpopular decisions and scandals related to the People's Front and the Prime Minister personally. It was Storozhuk who justified Yatsenyuk's forced resignation as prime minister and his $3 million bribe case to the press. His next task, apparently, will be closing the bribery case against his boss, the former Ukrainian prime minister, in the Prosecutor General's Office. For this purpose, he will receive the lucrative position of First Deputy Prosecutor General.
Dmytro Storozhuk's biography and career are clear. A lack of moral and professional integrity, coupled with a willingness to "serve" the top party leadership, helped him advance and become a member of parliament at the age of 29. A lack of genuine professional achievements and experience will not prevent him from also becoming the First Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine, where he will continue to do what he truly learned during his career – "knock out" and "launder" money for Yatsenyuk and his team. And all this under the guise of a fierce fight against corruption and democratic reforms in Ukraine...
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