High Anti-Corruption Court orders acting prosecutor general to open case against Arakhamia over envelope salaries

The High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) has ordered acting Prosecutor General of Ukraine Anton Kovalsky to open a case against the head of the Servant of the People faction, David Arakhamia, over the possible distribution of envelope salaries to MPs for votes.

This was reported by the Anti-Corruption Action Center (ACAC), whose complaint was upheld by HACC investigating judge Markiyan Halabala.

According to the report, on October 19 the ACAC demanded that the Prosecutor General’s Office launch an investigation into Arakhamia. Kovalsky refused to enter the information into the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations (URPI), stating that the circumstances described were already being investigated by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), and forwarded the application there.

At the same time, under the law, only the prosecutor general can register criminal proceedings against a people’s deputy. NABU has stated that without such registration it cannot begin an investigation against Arakhamia.

The court has now ordered Kovalsky to enter the relevant information into the URPI.

Previously, former Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko had similarly refused to open a case against Arakhamia.

According to the ACAC, control over the Prosecutor General’s Office is one of the main instruments of the presidential vertical for protecting MPs from criminal prosecution in NABU and SAP cases. Anti-corruption bodies and the grant environment supporting them, in turn, are seeking levers of pressure on the parliamentary corps, including to advance the Kachka-Kos package of laws, which expands the powers of NABU and SAP and limits the president’s influence over law enforcement agencies.