Nazar Kholodnitsky
Not long ago, a competition was held to head the specialized anti-corruption prosecutor's office. Two candidates made it to the finals. One of them, Maksym Hryshchuk, is a former "cyborg," a volunteer, and a participant in the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO). He is ready to fight and risk his life for his country, and he has proven it with his actions. The second candidate, Nazar Kholodnytskyi, built his career in the quiet of prosecutor's offices, far from the fighting, in very lucrative positions. Moreover, his rise to power coincided with the Yanukovych era, when, as we were told from the Maidan platform, the entire prosecutor's office was thoroughly corrupt. Furthermore, he is involved in a very nasty story involving the beating of journalist Viktor Minyailo, which we wrote aboutNow, attention, a question! Which of these two candidates do you think was chosen by President Petro Poroshenko and Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, who came to power as a result of the aforementioned Euromaidan? Of course... the second, Nazar Kholodnitsky, which we also wrote about Apparently, he's "one of their own," predictable, and knows where to put it. But the heroes of the ATO—they're not their own; who knows what to expect from them? Apparently, this was the logic the country's top leadership followed when appointing a man to this position who, judging by his experience and track record, could turn the fight against corruption into a well-oiled corruption business. And to avoid public embarrassment, the "cyborg" Maksym Hryshchuk was appointed his deputy, with unclear powers. Yes, Hryshchuk was also a prosecutor from the Yanukovych era, but he demonstrated his love for his country in action. But what is Nazar Ivanovych Kholodnytskyi famous for? Let's try to figure it out.
Maxim Grishchuk
Whose are you?
It's clear that no one "off the street" will be appointed to the position of anti-corruption prosecutor. So who is behind Kholodnitsky, or, in other words, who will be paid for fighting corruption? Nazar Kholodnitsky's start in life was given to him by the notorious former prosecutor of Kyiv and the Kyiv region, Yuriy Gaysinsky. He was the first boss of the newly appointed anti-corruption prosecutor. Yes, this is the same Gaysinsky who could once solve practically any case. It was thanks to him that the criminal kingpin Avdyshev escaped. He also "reclassified" the "Volkov case" under the appropriate article, allowing it to be hushed up. He is also a business partner of Surkis and Gubsky, and the father-in-law of Gennady Kernes. Moreover, there is another interesting detail. Kholodnitsky's job description requires him to oversee the head of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, Artem Sytnyk, the same one who In his very first days working at the bureau, he was caught out for including his wife and personal assistant in the official delegation for a trip to Great Britain at government expenseThe Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine assessed this as an abuse of power and official position, and a pre-trial investigation has been launched.
Artem Sytnik
And, what a coincidence, this same Sytnyk is also a partner of Yuriy Gaysinsky. He was the managing partner of Legal Guarantees, a company owned by Gaysinsky. In short, it's a "coincidence" that the entire newly created anti-corruption bloc is somehow connected to one of the most notorious and brazen corrupt officials of the Kuchma era, a member of the so-called "Kyiv oligarchic clan." However, these are general statements that don't prove or demonstrate that Nazar Kholodnytsky is truly corrupt. Especially since he himself denies any connection to Yuriy Gaysinsky. Well, let's move from general statements to specifics.
Yuri Gaisinsky
Kiev-Svyatoshinsky district
In 2006, young Nazar Kholodnytskyi, then 21, went to work for the Kyivo-Svyatoshinsky District Prosecutor's Office. He was hired by Yuriy Gaysinskyi, then the Kyiv Oblast Prosecutor. This district is considered very prestigious—it's lined with mansions belonging to the wealthy, and the land there has always been considered "golden." In this district, there's a village called Sofiivska Borshahivka, where, during Nazar Ivanovich's tenure there, in 2011, the village council illegally allocated land for the construction of apartment buildings. Vasyl Fedorenko, the Kyivo-Svyatoshinsky District Prosecutor, protected this scheme, and Nazar Kholodnytskyi served as his confidant at the time. When outraged village residents decided to replace the village council, its head simply locked himself in the village council building with Kholodnytskyi. They called in the "titushki," and local residents called the police. The Berkut arrived, siding with the head of the village council, and the local residents were simply sent home. The residents filed a lawsuit against the raiders, but Nazar Ivanovich dismissed all the cases against them, doing so personally. Apparently, he didn't realize back then that he would become an anti-corruption prosecutor, so from a young age he tried to fit into the corrupt system of the Ukrainian prosecutor's office. The raiders' actions, which he covered up, caused the country 120 million hryvnias in damages.
A homeless person in power again
If you look at Nazar Ivanovich's asset declaration, you'll conclude that he's a man of impeccable integrity. He has no accounts or income. His total income is approximately 140.000 hryvnias per year, or about 12.000 hryvnias per month (he lives on his salary alone). He also has no bank accounts. He has no house or apartment, only plots of land measuring 1000 and 1200 square meters and some "other real estate" of 18 square meters. He also owns a 2007 Mitsubishi. Even the drivers and cleaners at the Prosecutor General's Office would probably be wealthier. Interestingly, he also didn't declare any rented property. Where does the anti-corruption prosecutor live? Is he really homeless? However, such "homeless" declarations are nothing new. "Diamond" prosecutors also didn't declare their valuables. So, theoretically, everything is correct – the man had spent his entire life in public service, which means, again, theoretically, he couldn't have become wealthy. However, it's worth remembering that he held at least two lucrative positions: senior prosecutor of the Kyivo-Svyatoshinsky district, as we wrote above, and senior assistant to the First Deputy Prosecutor General, Mykola Golomsha. The same one implicated in arranging the early release of the scandalous former MP Viktor Lozinsky. This happened in May-July 2014, just when Nazar Kholomnytsky was working in the Prosecutor General's Office. Could the senior assistant not have known what his boss was doing? Whatever the case, a serious scandal erupted around this matter, Golomsha was eventually removed, and Nazar Ivanovich was appointed Deputy Prosecutor of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.
Prosecutor of Crimea, but without Crimea
By that time, Crimea had already been annexed by Russia, and the autonomous republic's prosecutor's office was located in Kyiv. What this strange agency did, and what Kholodnitsky did within it, is unclear. In theory, he should have opened criminal proceedings against the autonomous republic's deputies, as well as against the new "leaders" of this occupied part of Ukraine. And, accordingly, convicted them, at least in absentia. Especially since their crimes against the state, as they say, are obvious, and gathering evidence wouldn't have been difficult.
Nazar Kholodnitsky
More than a year has passed, and nothing has been heard about such criminal proceedings. So, it turns out that citizens Sergei Aksyonov and Vladimir Konstantinov are innocent of any wrongdoing, even though the whole world watched them sign the agreement with Putin on Crimea's accession to the Russian Federation live on television, since their guilt can only be established by a court based on the prosecutor's charges. For now, they are simply wanted. Instead, Nazar Ivanovich turned his attention to Ukrainian singer Irina Bilyk, who had flown to Crimea, apparently to work on some corporate event. He saw in her interview that she had flown there by plane, which, according to the then-Deputy Prosecutor of Crimea, was an offense; she should have walked through the checkpoint. Bilyk, apparently, suffered no significant consequences, but this story perfectly illustrates the priorities of the new anti-corruption prosecutor.
The new anti-corruption prosecutor will serve for the next five years. His salary will be approximately 30.000 hryvnias. Is that a lot or a little? For the average Ukrainian, it's not bad at all. But throughout the years of independence, prosecutors haven't earned anything like that, yet they've earned thousands of times more. Nazar Kholodnytsky's biography, as described above, doesn't necessarily mean he'll start protecting corruption, but it does give reason to doubt the purity of his intentions and take a closer look. Perhaps very soon we'll be talking about hiring a "cyborg" for this position. Time will tell.
Denis Ivanov, for SKELET-info
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