The shuffling of the "girls" did not stop the brothel from being a brothel.
Reforms can be implemented in different ways, of course. For example, one can do it the way Yuriy Lutsenko does (Read more: Yuriy Lutsenko. The "Terminator" of Ukrainian Politics): dismiss Volodymyr Yanko, the Prosecutor of the Zakarpattia Oblast, and immediately appoint him as the Prosecutor of the Luhansk Oblast. Or this: dismiss Yuriy Kvyatkovsky, the Prosecutor of the Luhansk Oblast, and appoint him to head the Lviv Oblast Prosecutor's Office. Or even this: promote Oleksandr Stratyuk, the Deputy Prosecutor of the Kharkiv Oblast, to the Prosecutor's Office of the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast. Or, finally, this: hand over the portfolio of the Prosecutor of the Rivne Oblast to Oleh Sobol, the Deputy Prosecutor of the Lviv Oblast.
Ukraine hasn't been short on regions (it is, after all, the largest country in Europe), and we have plenty of prosecutors, and even more so, deputies. You can shuffle this deck endlessly, swapping Poltava with Mykolaiv and vice versa—as much as you like. And if some supposed public activists come and ask, "Where are the reforms, Yura?" he'll answer, "Oh, here they are!" The shuffling and shuffling continues, making a racket, but no change is in sight.
One of Yuriy Lutsenko's distant predecessors, Mykhailo Potebenko, earned himself a bad reputation by repeating that the body from Tarashcha Forest was a 96% DNA match to Georgiy Gongadze. It's unclear whether Lutsenko's trademark number will stick, but he currently claims that the lustration of prosecutorial personnel is 95% complete. However, based on Lutsenko's appointments, this is far from certain.
Ivan Dziuba, a man who worked in the system both under Shokin and before him, remains the head of the GPU's Department of Internal Security. Previously, the position was held by Igor Beletsky, who was "removed" after the Revolution of Dignity. However, Dziuba headed the aforementioned department even before Beletsky.
After the change of power in February 2014, Ivan Dzyuba gradually returned to his "old" position—first as senior prosecutor in the Department of Internal Investigations and Corruption Prevention of the Prosecutor General's Office's Internal Security Directorate, and from there, as head of the Internal Security Directorate.
The situation with the Department of Internal Security is all the more unclear because Lutsenko himself hinted that Petro Shkutyak would head the department. This was the verbatim version: "Shkutyak will head the Prosecutor General's Office's Internal Security Working Group, tasked with verifying the integrity of prosecutors at the center and locally. He is 35 years old, served as the chairman of the Dolyna District State Administration (Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast – Author), participated in the 'Language Maidan,' the Great Maidan; volunteered for the Aidar Battalion, went to the front, and was seriously wounded near the Luhansk airport in the village of Georgievka," Lutsenko described his protégé.
But the fact is, the position of "head of the working group" doesn't officially exist, and its very title sounds odd. There is the position of head of the Department of Internal Security, which, as mentioned, is occupied by Ivan Dzyuba.
Speak or keep silent forever
Meanwhile, Yuriy Lutsenko hasn't come up with anything more original to combat corruption in the prosecutorial ranks than requiring his subordinates to complete so-called virtue questionnaires. The questionnaires were introduced at the end of July, and prosecutors have one month to process them.
At the end of his term at the Prosecutor General's Office, one would expect a raucous banquet to be held, and Yuriy Vitalyevich would publicly announce not only the end of lustration but also the victory over corruption. Probably 95 percent.
"Incorrectly stated information in prosecutors' declarations of integrity will be grounds for disciplinary action or dismissal from their positions, or from the prosecutor's office as a whole," Lutsenko's press secretary, Larisa Sargan, explained the significance of the questionnaires.
What does this virtue-finding tool actually consist of? The questionnaire contains seven items that must be signed, thereby swearing that the person involved has adhered to the following throughout their career: 1. Has not committed any actions that would dishonor the title of prosecutor; 2. Has promptly declared their assets in accordance with the established procedure; 3. Their standard of living is commensurate with their assets and income; 4. Has not committed any corruption offense; 5. Has not illegally interfered with the work of another prosecutor; 6. Conscientiously performs their duties and keeps their oath; 7. Is not subject to any prohibitions stipulated by the Law "On the Purification of Power".
As we can see, such a questionnaire doesn't contain any specifics. It's entirely predictable, as it's designed to elicit a voluntary confession to a crime or offense, which, of course, won't happen. But no less surprising than the content of such a questionnaire is the procedure for verifying one's virtue.
It involves posting prosecutors' profiles on the official website and waiting for conscientious citizens to provide information that refutes the "seven pillars of virtue" signed by the prosecutor.
At the same time, conscientious citizens have no more than six months.
After this period, any information becomes meaningless, and the prosecutor is considered to have successfully passed the test. It was apparently to develop this ingenious method of virtue verification that Shkutyak's ten-person working group was created.
But let's assume that conscientious citizens do report that Prosecutor So-and-So lied in his application. What happens then? Then, if compromising information is received, the only task of Shkutyak's group is to forward this information to the head of the prosecutor's office where the hypothetical offender works.
After this, the suspect prosecutor's immediate supervisor "is obligated to decide whether to initiate an internal investigation." What happens if the supervisor decides an investigation is inappropriate is not specified in the rules for using the miracle questionnaire. Obviously, if the offender's supervisor refuses to initiate an internal investigation, the offender will remain in office.
To paraphrase the famous joke about selling an elephant, we can conclude that with such methods, such bureaucracy, such delayed decisions, such mock punishments, and such blasphemy embedded in the so-called "integrity questionnaire," Yuriy Lutsenko will never overcome any corruption. But, admittedly, he will have something to report to his superiors—read: the President, who lobbied for his candidacy.
In defense of such questionnaires, it should be noted that they are also used abroad. Completing integrity questionnaires is common practice in government and law enforcement agencies in the United States, Canada, and European countries. However, there, the questionnaires consist of several dozen pages of very specific questions—in addition to detailed questions about the financial status of the individual and their close relatives, there are also inquiries about the location of vacations and their sources of payment, the average weekly alcohol consumption (relevant for the Prosecutor General himself—A.), instances of drunk driving, participation in illegal hunting, use of prostitutes, and many other personal details.
Moreover, all information provided in the questionnaire can be verified using a polygraph or by collecting data from various sources about the person, their lifestyle, and their social circle. For Lutsenko, it's enough to see seven strokes of the pen under very vague statements, unsupported by evidence or facts.
The biggest personnel blunder
Lutsenko's 100th day as prosecutor hasn't yet passed, but it will soon. It's hard to say what will top his list of "achievements": the "shuffling" of regional prosecutors or the comedy of "virtue questionnaires." Over the past three months, the appointment of Roman Govda as Kyiv prosecutor has probably sparked the greatest public outrage. Lutsenko will be remembered for that, too.
The position of Moscow prosecutor has remained vacant for almost a year, ever since Sergei Yuldashev's dismissal. Throughout this time, the Moscow prosecutor's office was headed by Yuldashev's first deputy, Oleg Valendyuk, who became famous for the administrative court's decision to prohibit his dismissal from the post of first deputy prosecutor of Kyiv.
As for Roman Govda, he had a remarkable career, rising through the ranks from a department prosecutor in the Zhytomyr Prosecutor's Office to the Odesa Oblast Prosecutor and Deputy Prosecutor General. At one time, he was tipped for the position of prosecutor in the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, but Nazar Kholodnytskyi (Read more: Nazar Kholodnitsky. In charge of corruption or in charge of fighting it?) I went around Govda.
Lutsenko appointed Govda to a high post, despite the fact that it was he who signed the notice of suspicion against the former Deputy Prosecutor General in the “apartment case” – Vitaliy Kasko (Read more about it in the article Vitaly Kasko – a swindler, a corrupt official, a "shot-down pilot"). And that's not the end of the story. About a month ago, Yuriy Lutsenko's press secretary, Larisa Sargan, wrote a critical Facebook post claiming that Vitaliy Kasko—like the rabbit in "Alice in Wonderland"—was lost in time. Kasko was thus humiliated twice: by social media and by personnel appointments that were unpleasant for him.
All this taken together means only that Lutsenko will have no connection whatsoever with prosecutorial reformers like Kas'ko or Sakvarelidze. The paths of the "first draft" of the GPU perestroika proponents and the current leadership of the Prosecutor General's Office won't even cross. Well, every broom sweeps its own way, or pretends to. In any case, it doesn't make things any easier for a dirty house—faking effort is no substitute for actual effort.
Read more: Yuriy Lutsenko. The "Terminator" of Ukrainian Politics
Nazar Kholodnitsky. In charge of corruption or in charge of fighting it?
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Published in the newspaper Ukraine is young
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