After the head of the regional state administration, Volodymyr Bondar, spoke before journalists with sharp criticism of the actions of the regional prosecutor's office and announced his appeal to the President with a request for the resignation of the regional prosecutor, the reaction of the opposite side was not long in coming. Last Friday, a press conference by Andriy Hil was held in the premises of the regional prosecutor's office with the participation of his four deputies, which, apparently, was supposed to emphasize unanimity in defending the position of law enforcement officers. Regional Prosecutor Andriy Hil immediately announced that he would refer to press reports, in particular, he subsequently quoted two publications of “Volyn”.
Incidentally, one of the deputy regional prosecutors remarked in conversation why journalists did not demand from the head of the regional state administration documents confirming his words. One would think that at a briefing or press conference, esteemed persons invite media representatives not so that they check documentation. We are not obliged to do this, because the authorities and law enforcement officers must be responsible for the truthfulness of official information.
Incidentally, at the press conference an opinion was expressed that it would be good for the conflicting parties to meet at a “round table”. Then journalists would not have to act from time to time in the role of refuters of previous statements—they would present the arguments of the discussion. By the way, perhaps the rostrum of the regional council is suitable for this?
And for now “Volyn”, adhering to publicity and openness, gives the floor to the regional prosecutor, since he even said that “these statements give us the right to go to court for the protection of honor, dignity and business reputation, and we will use this right”. Although this was also said: “There is no conflict as such, there is a misunderstanding in the fulfillment of the requirements of the law. I advocate joint cooperation.” Obviously, laws are interpreted differently.
Why then is Andriy Hil convinced that “some executive officials want to make the prosecutor's office a pocket one”? According to him, during February–April the heads of the regional state administration sent a number of documents that were adopted in violation of the requirements of the Constitution and the Law of Ukraine “On the Prosecutor's Office”, and the resolutions testify to this. Officials instruct immediate conduct of one or another inspection, give a legal assessment of the facts and a response to the applicants, the question of initiating criminal cases is raised at operational meetings, and so on. During personal meetings with Volodymyr Bondar, there was talk of replacing personnel, including deputy regional prosecutors and some city and district prosecutors, although these issues are decided at the level of the Prosecutor General if there are weighty grounds to initiate their dismissal because they do not ensure the work area.
The regional prosecutor recalled that according to current legislation, state authorities, local self-government, various political parties and movements are prohibited from interfering in the activities of the prosecutor's office. The regional prosecutor believes that the telephone right is returning, when, for example, they ask why criminal cases have not been initiated against certain leading officials. “I answer that cases are not initiated out of thin air; if you have materials or they will be collected, then they will be given a legal assessment and a decision will be made as the law requires.”
The regional prosecutor refuted the claim that the prosecutor's office heads groups that violate the law, because neither he nor his relatives have any commercial structures or “groups” over which he would “provide cover”. As for criminal cases on illegal customs clearance of cars, five cases were sent to court last year (none were closed), and 10 are under investigation, forensic examinations are being conducted, etc. Investigative operational groups have been created on illegal customs clearance of cars in the Lyuboml and Kamin-Kashyrskyi districts, and all those involved in the criminal registration will answer according to the law. He acknowledged that bureaucratic delays could have been allowed, but nothing more.
The decision to close the cases by the city prosecutor regarding the housing and communal services department was agreed with the Prosecutor General's Office. Funds intended for landscaping, by orders of Anton Kryvytskyi, which were then approved at sessions, in 2001-2003 were directed to the salaries of trolleybus department employees who wanted to strike, to the major repair of the regional maternity hospital, and to the repair of an emergency multi-story building on Sobornosti Avenue. Then the funds were covered at the expense of other expenditures. Formally this was a violation of the law, but such a concept as “extreme necessity” was taken into account. And in general, as Andriy Hil put it, the police, who initiated these cases in January 2004, “wanted to keep the mayor in their hands and influence him through the mechanism of initiating criminal cases against him”.
Regarding the receipt of housing by Lutsk prosecutor Ruslan Chernota and other facts that were published in the newspaper “Vechirni Visti”, there is a decision of the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv dated May 12 of this year, by which all accusations were refuted and it was obliged to publish it. However, Andriy Hil still said that the work of the Lutsk prosecutor would be analyzed and, possibly, he would initiate his dismissal from the post.
The work of the regional consumer cooperation union was checked with the involvement of the State Financial Inspection and no violations in the use of budget funds were found. In particular, the house in which the chairman of the board, Volodymyr Horhut, lives is on the balance sheet of the regional consumer cooperation union and has not been privatized. An illegal sale of unfinished construction of one of the shopping complexes was discovered in the system of the Ratniv district consumer cooperation union, and the case is at the investigation stage; the losses will be compensated through court.
The regional prosecutor dwelt in detail on two, let us say, delicate topics: his receipt of improved housing in Lutsk and the governor's accusation regarding “incomprehensible investigative actions concerning members of his family”. He replied that a three-room apartment on Kyiv Square was reprivatized and received by a prosecutor's office employee by decision of the city executive committee and the collective's trade union committee, who was on the waiting list, and for two additional rooms in the newly received housing the regional prosecutor paid extra by taking out a loan. This was done with the permission of the city executive committee. This fact was checked by the Prosecutor General's Office and no violations of the law were found. Incidentally, Andriy Hil also clarified another question with a subtext: indeed he studied in the same year as the current Prosecutor General in Lviv, but he has no privileges at work and does not seek any for himself.
Andriy Hil reported on the summons of Volodymyr Bondar's wife as a witness to give testimony in a criminal case concerning the financial and economic activity of a commercial structure of which she is a co-founder. This case is at the investigation stage in connection with statements to law enforcement agencies by another co-founder of this firm, whose life was attempted. Incidentally, the materials about this crime were at one time concealed by officials of the Lutsk city department of internal affairs, and on May 11 of this year a criminal case was also initiated against them.
The prosecutor also made public some of the 16 criminal cases initiated against officials where the losses exceed one million hryvnias. Here, for example, officials of the “Volynturyst” company sold to their relatives in Novovolynsk an unfinished hotel construction for 65 thousand hryvnias, and after a short period of time resold this complex for 1 million 100 thousand hryvnias. A criminal case has been initiated against officials of the “Lutskvodokanal” utility: losses from fictitious transactions amount to more than 2.5 million hryvnias. Abusing their official position, officials of the “Volyn Avtodor” state enterprise caused losses to the state of almost one million hryvnias. A case is being investigated against the head of the Lutsk MREV, Vlasyuk, where the damages are also estimated at a million “plus”.
And finally, the investigation has reached the accomplices of the crime that occurred in Tsuman during the elections, and persons have been detained—police officers involved in this. The location where the safe with ballot papers was hidden has been indicated. The then heads of the Kivertsi district department of internal affairs, who removed an armed officer from guard duty and put an unarmed young cadet in his place, will also answer, believes the regional prosecutor.
In conclusion, Regional Prosecutor Andriy Hil, having answered journalists' questions, said the following: “We should not be hindered from working; the work will be evaluated by the Prosecutor General's Office and the population of the region, and the executive power should deal with the issues that the Law on State Administration assigns to it. And our goal is common—to work for the good of the state.”
To this maxim one can only add that mutual accusations do not contribute to work but generate nihilism and disbelief in the triumph of legality. People are not interested in these ambitious “showdowns”, because it was not for that that they defended justice during the Orange Revolution and opposed a dishonest, immoral government. They want to see real systemic changes in the style of work of all branches of power and, in particular, the inevitability of punishment for criminals, whoever they may be. The public awaits such encouraging information, backed by facts, in the mass media.
Oleksandr Nahornyi