Use of “puppet” courts continues: how the selection process for the Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine is being sabotaged

The competition for the position of Director of the Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine (ESBU) may be sabotaged through puppet courts, as MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak reported. The ESBU is responsible for combating economic crimes. The independence of the Bureau and whether pressure on businesses will stop being applied manually depend on who is chosen to lead it.

Candidates for the ESBU are selected by a Selection Commission consisting of three international experts and three government-nominated experts, with international partners holding the decisive vote. Most likely, the selection is being conducted so professionally that the President’s Office risks losing control over the ESBU. Therefore, just before the candidate interviews, attempts to disrupt the selection process intensified: first, through a letter from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), and second, through lawsuits filed in the Kyiv District Administrative Court (KDAC) that challenged the Commission’s decisions.

There are already five lawsuits contesting the actions and decisions of the ESBU Director Selection Commission. The plaintiffs are competition participants. The cases are being considered by KDAC judges Lysko, Leontovych, Shevchenko, Vistak, and Bilonozhenko. At least two of them, Maryna Bilonozhenko and Anna Shevchenko, have been found unfit for their positions by the Public Integrity Council, while Andriy Leontovych is subject to a decision citing facts that may indicate low integrity.

There’s a familiar scheme in which the desired result is achieved without even reaching a final court decision. For instance, the now-defunct District Administrative Court of Kyiv once prohibited the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate from indicating its affiliation with the Russian Orthodox Church, based solely on an interim ruling. A similar scheme could now be used to block the ESBU leadership competition.

Controlled and unreformed courts have repeatedly been used to sabotage reforms. The ESBU reform risks becoming yet another example. That’s why building a judiciary composed of independent and high-integrity judges must be the top priority. In particular, the Supreme Court must be cleansed, as its harmful rulings consistently undermine the achievements of judicial reform.