A group of lawmakers wants Yatsenyuk corruption charges investigated

Serhiy Kaplin, a member of Ukrainian parliament representing Petro Poroshenko Bloc, also initiated a rally in front of the parliament, where people could sign a petition to create a temporary investigative commission in parliament. He said more than 20,000 signatures have been collected so far.

Volodymyr Groysman, the parliament’s speaker, said the demand will be discussed at a session of a parliamentary committee the following day, and the issue might then be included into the agenda on April 9. The deputies unblocked the rostrum after his statement.

Andriy Illenko, an independent lawmaker, warned that the rostrum would be blocked again if the parliament fails to move on the creation of the investigative commission.

The idea of creation of this temporary commission first came about after the dismissal of the head of the State Financial Inspection of Ukraine Mykola Gordienko, who accused the government in stealing Hr 7.5 billion. The inspection is a controlling agency under the Cabinet designed to track the use of public finances.

On March 18 Gordienko asked Prosecutor General’s office to check the activities of the government, which he accused of preserving many corrupt schemes left over after Prime Minister Mykola Azarov. He also asked to suspend Yatsenyuk as prime minister for the duration of the investigation.

Victor Shokin, Ukraine’s prosecutor general, in a televised interview later that month said that his office had started criminal proceedings based on these accusations. He also said that Yatsenyuk has agreed to give “any testimony on these issues.”

Meanwhile, the National Agency of Ukraine on Civil Service conducted an internal investigation against officials at the State Financial Inspection and found numerous violations of law that led to the dismissal of Gordienko. The agency essentially has the functions of a human resources center and controller in the government.

“I thank Yatsenyuk that he fired Gordienko,” Kaplin wrote on his Facebook page. “Now he can take part in the investigation of the Cabinet’s crimes. At last we will find out, if Yatsenyuk is a saint.”

Yehor Sobolev, the head of Ukraine’s committee on preventing and combating corruption, told the Kyiv Post that the committee will hold a hearing about the Gordienko’s case on April 8, which Gordienko was expected to attend.

“He said that the government had stolen Hr 7.5 billion. That’s a serious accusation, and we need either to confirm it, in which case the officials should resign and go to jail, or to prove it to be false, and then Gordienko must take the consequences,” Sobolev said.

Asked to comment on the need to create a special parliament commission to conduct the inquiry, Sobolev said that “the more commissions, the more openness, the more public discussions of any allegations, the better.”

“However, we shouldn’t overestimate the special inquiry commission as a tool,” he added. “In previous parliaments it turned at best into PR for a person chosen to lead it.”

Sobolev said that if the commission is created, every faction should delegate a representative to it.

According to Kaplin, the future members of the commission will be, among others, independent lawmakers Boryslav Bereza, Volodymyr Parasyuk, Andriy Illenko, and himself.

But Kaplin’s position on the need to investigate Yatsenyk is not shared by all of his faction. “The position of deputy Kaplin does not reflect the position of Petro Poroshenko’s Bloc,” faction leader Yuriy Lutsenko said. “We will try to explain to him that there is no need to use a hammer to kill a mosquito on the forehead of your interlocutor.”

Kyiv Post staff writer Alyona Zhuk can be reached at zhuk@kyivpost.com