Oleg Sukhov: Reformer and anti-reformer of the week

Reformer of the week: Artem Sytnyk

Artem Sytnyk, head of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, has clashed with the Prosecutor General’s Office – a corrupt, distrusted and politicized agency – over the past week.

Activists view the conflict as part of President Petro Poroshenko’s efforts to crack down on the bureau’s independence and restrict its ability to jail corrupt officials.

Employees of the bureau were conducting surveillance of prosecutors subordinated to Volodymyr Hutsulyak and Dmytro Sus last week in a corruption case. According to the employees’ testimony, they were tortured by the prosecutors.

A source with knowledge of the matter told the Kyiv Post that Sus was a suspect in an unlawful enrichment case. Sus has admitted using an Audi Q7 car and claims that he bought it with his $12,000 annual salary. The car, which costs about $40,000, was not included in Sus’ 2015 declaration and is reportedly registered to Sus’ grandmother.

Meanwhile, earlier this month the bureau caught Mykola Chaus, a judge reportedly tied to Poroshenko’s grey cardinal Oleksandr Hranovsky, with a $150,000 bribe earlier this month.

Lawmaker Sergii Leshchenko said on Aug. 17 that Hranovsky was planning to file a motion with the Constitutional Court to strip the anti-graft bureau of part of its powers.