After the first Maidan, fearing popular reprisals, several high-ranking officials from Kuchma's entourage committed suicide. Others fled the country for extended periods.
Today, 10 years later, the "fixers" and "overseers" from the previous government yawn lazily at the word "lustration", continuing to work according to the old schemes.
The most stable area in this regard has been the judicial system. Here, since 2010, the flywheel of the great "family" case has never stopped working. At the helm of this scheme is the Supreme Economic Court of Ukraine (SECHU)—the main "family" regulator of all major business conflicts in the country.
Judging by how the "lustration" is going at the VSHU, some of the new authorities are taking a good chunk of the buck, while some of the "old" ones are diligently pilfering.
The Supreme Family and Commercial Court of Ukraine
Yanukovych's core team at the VSKhU is from Donetsk. Their robes have still not been removed, despite the high-profile, multi-million dollar scandals that plagued Viktor Fedorovich's tenure.
The most odious figures from the Donetsk group are considered to be the recent leaders and current judges of the Supreme Commercial Court of Ukraine, Viktor Tatkov and Artur Yemelyanov, who are associated with the odious "authority" Yura Yenakievsky (Ivanyushchenko).
According to various sources, Viktor Tatkov, former head of the Supreme Commercial Court of Ukraine, headed a corruption hierarchy of more than 500 judges at various levels under Yanukovych. As head of the Supreme Commercial Court, he oversaw the process of asset seizure through illegal court rulings.
According to unofficial estimates, the "income" from this activity amounted to more than $10 billion. Today, Tatkov, although on the run, remains a judge and influences the Supreme Commercial Court.
A commercial proposal to Tatkov from a people's representative
Tatkov's client, Yemelyanov, was transferred to work in Kyiv from the Donetsk Commercial Court in 2010.
During the Maidan, Tatkov and Yemelyanov didn't break down the airport doors to escape to Rostov; they didn't charter a plane to escape to Monaco. This tandem continued to operate as before, following their established scheme for seizing businesses.
The scheme was based on a corporate raid. Business owners were offered a share in the company as a gift, otherwise a corporate conflict would ensue involving thugs, organized crime groups, and law enforcement. The case later progressed through the courts to the Supreme Commercial Court, where Tatkov and Yemelyanov met with the court, providing a legal basis for the takeover.
Thus, the Konstantinovka Crystal Plant, the Makeyevka Department Store, the TOR Mechanical Plant, the Bratislava Hotel, the Polymer Alliance Ltd., the Donetsk Central Department Store, the Druzhba restaurant in Konstantinovka, the Shakhtar Hotel, the Decor Donbass shopping center, the Odessa Stalkanat, the 7th Kilometer industrial goods market, Europe's largest, and dozens of other enterprises throughout Ukraine were seized.
Tatkov and Yemelyanov – a “family” contract in the Supreme Commercial Court of Ukraine.
Tatkov and Yemelyanov directly managed the entire system in Ukraine's commercial courts. Legal support for cases began with assigning a specific case to a specific judge. Most cases were assigned to "their own" judges, Nina Akulova and Stanislav Miroshnichenko. These Donetsk natives were entrusted with the most dubious tasks. But the judges performed well, making decisions favored by their superiors. All of them continue to work at the Supreme Economic Court of Ukraine.
The computer says: "yes!"
Following the judicial reform of 2010, court chairpersons were formally stripped of many of the functions through which they could influence judges. Specifically, it was declared that court chairpersons would lose the right to assign cases to judges, which had been one of the key mechanisms of influence.
Because loyal and obedient judges were assigned the right cases, while other judges were left with whatever was left. The judicial reform introduced automatic case assignment. This is handled by a computer system, taking into account certain criteria, alphabetical order, and judges' workload.
This was a unique attempt to cover up the corruption schemes of Tatkov and Yemelyanov.
However, judging by several scandals involving unauthorized interference by unidentified individuals, the computer has been slightly tweaked. It is now possible to assign a specific case to a specific panel of judges.
In other words, control over the procedure for conducting proceedings in court still belongs to Yanukovych's judges.
At official events, Emelyanov prefers to wear the most modest watches from his collection.
Today, the Higher School of Art is handling a high-profile case about the seizure of the Odessa industrial goods market "7th kilometer" by a "family."
VSKhU had already seized the "7th kilometer" in 2012, in favor of Yura Yenakievsky's team. That dispute was also heard by Donetsk judges.
But in September 2014, the Supreme Court of Ukraine dismissed the case for retrial, advising the judges of the Higher School of Economics to reconsider the legality of their actions.
And recently, the "7th kilometer" case, by a "coincidental" coincidence, was again referred to Yemelyanov, Akulova, and Miroshnichenko, bypassing the other 23 judges of the first judicial chamber.
Now, the legality of the alienation of the Odessa market by "family" raiders will be assessed by "family" judges of the Higher Agricultural University.
This speaks to one thing: Yanukovych's entourage continues to influence the activities of the Supreme Commercial Court of Ukraine, despite the loss of leadership positions and the change of power in the country.
The word "lustration" is foreign to them, and therefore not entirely clear. And certainly not dangerous.
While tires are being burned outside the Rada, our domestic Themis continues to resolve issues in accordance with old "family" traditions.
Leonid Isakov, CENSOR
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