Ukraine Probes Attack on Chief Prosecutor Amid Calls He Resign

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Daryna Krasnolutska, Kateryna Choursina – November 3, 2015)

Ukrainian authorities opened a criminal investigation into a sniper attack on Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, who’s under pressure to resign amid criticism he has hindered the country’s fight against graft.

At about 10 p.m. Kiev time on Monday, an unknown assailant fired at a window in Shokin’s office as he held a meeting with employees, prosecutor Anatoliy Matios told reporters. The attack follows censure from Ukrainians, the U.S., and anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International, who say Shokin has blocked efforts to fight corruption.

“They were under fire from a sniper who shot three rounds,” Matios said on Tuesday in Kiev. “Only bullet-proof windows allowed him to escape.”

The European Union has demanded Ukraine accelerate its fight against sleaze to keep international financial aid flowing and progress toward easing a visa regime with the bloc. The former Soviet state needs to appoint anti-graft prosecutors and establish an independent anti-corruption bureau to qualify for the next tranche of its $17.5 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, which was originally slated for last month.

In September, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt blamed “corrupt actors within the Prosecutor General’s office” for “openly and aggressively undermining reform,” and dozens of people rallied at President Petro Poroshenko’s house this weekend calling for Shokin’s dismissal. The country ranked 142nd of the 175 countries in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index in 2014, and the watchdog criticized Shokin as “personally responsible for the failure to fight corruption among top officials.”

“Attempts by Shokin to set up a puppet anti-corruption institution shows he neither wants to reform the prosecutor’s office nor investigate corruption among top Ukrainian officials,” Transparency International said in a statement.

The government’s efforts to overhaul its economy has stirred conflict between authorities and powerful businessmen, while also bringing accusations from opposition figures of selective justice. In March, billionaire Igor Kolomoisky was ousted as governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region in March after his security guards barricaded themselves in the offices of a state oil company. The standoff with police followed Poroshenko’s signing legislation allowing for the replacement of a management team that Kolomoisky, a minority owner in the company, had picked.

On Saturday, prosecutors and the state security service detained a close ally of Kolomoisky, Gennadiy Korban. They accused Korban, who leads the opposition Ukrop party and ran for Kiev mayor in Oct. 25 municipal elections, of being part of an embezzling and kidnapping gang. Ukrop denies the accusations and contends that Poroshenko is trying to pressure on his political opponents.

Article ©2015 Bloomberg L.P. All Rights Reserved. Article also appeared at bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-03/ukraine-probes-attack-on-chief-prosecutor-amid-calls-he-resign

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