Ukraine Anti-Corruption Drive Faces New Blow as Key Prosecutor Pushed Aside

On May 15, Ukrainian Supreme Court chairman Vsevolod Kniaziev was detained by the country's anti-corruption authorities after their months-long investigation claimed to have evidence of a scheme in which the judge allegedly had solicited and accepted approximately $2.7 million in bribes. The case was widely hailed as an example of Kyiv's ongoing fight to develop Western standards of government accountability and transparency, even as its full-scale war against unprovoked Russian aggression rages on just a few hundred miles away from the capital.

Kniaziev, who has denied any wrongdoing, was relieved of his chairmanship on May 16, a subsequent restructuring implemented by Ukrainian Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) head Oleksandr Klymenko has cast doubt on the domestic authorities' commitment to uncovering any further abuses of power connected with the administration of President Volodymyr Zelensky. Concerns over the handling of Ukraine's anti-corruption drive have also raised concerns among international partners who have devoted billions in military and economic assistance as the country attempts to fend off a Russian invasion.

On July 3, prosecutor Oleksandr Omelchenko, who along with detectives from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) had been responsible for moving the case of the disgraced supreme court justice forward, was informed that his position as the head of SAPO's First Department had been determined to be redundant. It is a development that raises serious questions about the prevalence of political manipulation inside Ukraine's nominally independent anti-corruption organs.

"I believe that this restructuring was directly connected with my work on the Kniaziev case," Omelchenko told Newsweek.

Two additional SAPO prosecutors who spoke with Newsweek on the condition of anonymity, along with NABU's Civil Oversight Committee head Mark Savchuk, agreed that the change in Omelchenko's status was highly suspicious.

"For some reason, after the successful execution of this case, [SAPO head] Klymenko took the head of the department responsible for the investigation and relieved him of his duties," Savchuk said. "Legally, Omelchenko is still a prosecutor, but he is no longer the head of the department, so he does not have the administrative authority to supervise cases, and no cases are being assigned to him to pursue."

The motive behind the restructuring did not appear to be performance-related. In addition to the Kniaziev investigation, Omelchenko had played a key role in two other recent high-profile affairs. One of them saw former Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Vasyl Lozynsky arrested this past winter on charges that he had received $400,000 in kickbacks connected with state contracts for the procurement of generators. Another led to the resignation of Deputy Defense Minister Vyacheslav Shapovalov after leaked documents showed that the army was paying above-market prices for foodstuffs including eggs and potatoes.

Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, several of SAPO's prosecutors have volunteered for military service. Those who remain in the office complain of being short-staffed. Given the context, the effective removal of one of SAPO's most highly regarded department heads is difficult to explain.

"This is something we need to be honest about," Savchuk said. "Omelchenko is the only figure in SAPO who was producing results against those who are in power today, and I'm very frustrated that people in the West, including at the International Monetary Fund, are not more concerned about what is happening to him."

Omelchenko and those familiar with his situation all point to a saga surrounding Kniaziev's personal telephone as the most likely catalyst for the restructuring that has seen the prosecutor reduced to a status in which, in the words of Savchuk, "he can go to the office for eight hours a day, but there is nothing there for him to do."

The telephone in question, which was confiscated from Kniaziev when he was detained in mid-May, is currently in Poland. It was sent there for technical analysis in late June after NABU detectives determined that Ukrainian authorities could not be relied upon to effectively access and preserve its contents.

According to Omelchenko, on June 20, he signed a document granting a NABU detective's request that Polish authorities be given permission to access the data on Kniaziev's telephone. Omelchenko did so without informing his superiors. The following day, he was called into Klymenko's office, where the SAPO head "became very angry, and by the end of our conversation, he had informed me that I would no longer be working."

None of the figures who spoke to Newsweek for this article professed to know what potentially incriminating details Kniaziev's personal telephone might contain. Savchuk noted that, based on the timing of a restructuring that has effectively seen Omelchenko relieved of his duties, "it appears that someone really wanted Klymenko to retain custody of the phone."

The office of President Zelensky did not respond to Newsweek's request for comment, and a SAPO public relations representative replied that Newsweek's questions would be addressed in the order in which they were received.

However, Klymenko has commented on the matter publicly. In an interview published by the Ukrainian media outlet Zerkalo Nedeli on July 21, the SAPO head addressed both the issue of Kniaziev's telephone and the speculation that the restructuring affecting Omelchenko might have been related to the high-profile case.

"The most important element of the process is to follow the formal procedures in such a way that everything will be admissible as evidence in court," Klymenko said, speaking of the question concerning the transfer abroad of Kniaziev's telephone. "There was no objection from me about sending the phone to Poland. The only issue involves the necessity of complying with the procedures provided for by law."

Klymenko went on to characterize the timing of Omelchenko's reduction in authority as a matter of coincidence.

"The fact that structural changes are taking place at SAPO and the fact that certain criminal proceedings are being investigated are completely unrelated matters," he said. "Omelchenko may be dissatisfied with the upcoming layoff and have his own version of the episode with the phone, but to tie these together into one story is, to put it mildly, unethical."

Klymenko noted that, under the current circumstances, dispensing with the services of an effective prosecutor would not be in the interests of an organization tasked with fighting corruption.

"As you know, 13 prosecutors, which is 23 percent of the total number of SAPO prosecutors, are mobilized," he said. "And there is more and more work, so my task is to effectively cope given the available resources."

While the situation surrounding Omelchenko has not yet attracted significant attention from Ukraine's Western partners, those tasked with fighting corruption on the ground in Kyiv in the midst of Russia's war have taken notice.

"I do not want to tar my leadership, nor to excuse Omelchenko," one of the prosecutors who spoke to Newsweek on the condition of anonymity, said. "But I am in favor of objectivity, and the conflict that sprung up between them should not have been settled in the way it was. The process of suspending Omelchenko appears to be a hidden termination, and it's my opinion that the truth is closer to being on his side."

Correction 08/10/2023 6:17 a.m. ET: This story was updated to correct the spelling of Volodymyr Zelensky's name.

Correction 08/10/2023 8:17 a.m. ET: This story was updated to include more details of the charges by Ukraine's Anti-Corruption Prosecutors Office.