UKRAINE LAUNCHES THE LONG-AWAITED HIGH ANTI-CORRUPTION COURT OF UKRAINE
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has announced the launch of a special court to try corruption cases ahead of a presidential election runoff next week.
The anti-corruption court is being set up as part of Ukraine's $3.9bn loan programme with the IMF, with the intention of rooting out entrenched corruption and insulating court decisions from political pressure or bribery.
Poroshenko said on Thursday that the selection process for the judges had taken seven months.
“Thirty-eight new judges are taking up their duties in a completely new court,” said Poroshenko. “There are different examples of the work of anti-corruption courts across the world – there are more and less effective cases. You have all the levers, all the tools to be successful, because judicial reform, for the first time in the history of Ukraine, gives you independence from both the legislative and executive branches of government, and the president as well,” Poroshenko said, addressing the judges during the oath ceremony. According to the president, the HACC premises and funds for equipping them have already been allocated. "I, as president, as well as the Ukrainian parliament, the Ukrainian government, and, most importantly, the Ukrainian people, are waiting for the start of your work," Poroshenko added.
Poroshenko received fewer than 16 percent of the votes in the first round that was held on March 31, behind rival Volodymyr Zelensky, a comedian and political novice, who secured more than 30 percent.
An opinion poll released on Thursday suggested that Poroshenko was on course to lose to Zelensky - 24 percent to 61 percent - in the second round of the presidential election on April 21.
Poroshenko, 53, who was elected with almost 55 percent of vote in 2014, has failed to rally his electorate despite his efforts to be seen as a passionate fighter for the country's territorial integrity, as well as the champion of Ukraine's dream of integration with the European Union and NATO.
Over the past five years, he has reinforced the Ukrainian army that is battling Moscow-backed rebels in Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Poroshenko also ratified the Association Agreement with the EU, the document that enabled Ukrainians to trade with and travel to Europe without restrictions.
The incumbent president also secured the independence of Ukraine's Orthodox Church from its Russian counterpart.
But he failed to rid the country of corruption or recover the money stolen from Ukraine's coffers during the years that former President Viktor Yanukovich ruled the country.
Under Poroshenko, Ukraine has set up the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, the state body investigating corruption cases, and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office.
