Constitutional Court Candidates from Presidential Office Failed Basic Questions and Have Dubious Wealth — Shabunin

One of the candidates began his career in the KGB.

Candidates for judges of the Constitutional Court nominated by the President of Ukraine are incompetent in basic matters and have dubious wealth, said Vitaliy Shabunin, head of the Center for Countering Corruption, presenting the relevant video.

Here are all the details in our report.

Incompetent judges and dubious wealth

Shabunin says that a Constitutional Court judgeship is the “pinnacle of a legal career” in Ukraine, while worldwide the best lawyers of the nation end up in the Constitutional Court, and after their term they become elders of the nation, write books and lecture at the best universities.

Vitaliy Shabunin
head of the Center for Countering Corruption

But here, the Zelensky Office is turning the Constitutional Court competition into a circus, one that yesterday left even experienced ambassadors, who, it would seem, have seen everything, speechless.

He also says that the first candidate in the video is the “KGB man” Mykola Pohoretskyi, brought to the competition by the scandalous deputy head of the Presidential Office Oleh Tatarov.

Pohoretskyi was confused during the interview and, despite direct prompts from the commission members, did not answer the question of which decisions of the European Court of Human Rights are considered most important for the development of Ukraine's criminal procedure.  

The next candidate for the Constitutional Court did not know the meaning of the Latin phrase “Dura lex sed lex” (The law is harsh, but it is the law). According to the head of the Center for Countering Corruption, this is taught in the first year of university.

Vitaliy Shabunin

By the way, the commission did not ask another Tatarov candidate, Yevgrafova, a single question about her pile of luxury real estate and cars, or about the business registered to her mother in occupied Crimea. 

He notes that this situation is much worse than with the scandalous Constitutional Court chairman Oleksandr Tupytskyi. “What's more, Tupytskyi has less than a year left, while Tatarov's people will be shoved into the Constitutional Court for nine years,” the activist notes.

Shabunin notes that instead of solving the problem with the Constitutional Court, “the president's team is making it significantly, significantly worse.” “Zelensky won't even be president anymore, while the monsters he has planted in the Constitutional Court will threaten national security,” Shabunin said.

What is known about the candidates

Constitutional Court candidate Pohoretskyi and his wife work at the law association “Kardenas,” which until recently was called “Tatarov, Farinnik, Holovko,” where Tatarov was managing partner.

In 2014, together with Tatarov, Pohoretskyi published a textbook on “investigating mass riots.”

Notably, Pohoretskyi began his career in the KGB of the USSR: from 1986 to 1988 he took training courses at the Higher School of the KGB in Moscow, and from 1988 to 1992 he worked as an investigator in the KGB in Kharkiv region.

Appointing such a candidate directly contradicts the “On Cleansing Power” law: people who worked in the KGB cannot run for a Constitutional Court judge post.

Another Constitutional Court candidate, Yelyzaveta Yevgrafova, did not explain her multimillion fortunes, business through relatives, and luxury goods.

As the Public Council of Virtue reported, Yevgrafova did not meet criteria of integrity and professional ethics during the competition for a Supreme Court judge post in early 2019.

The council then stated that the officially confirmed incomes of Yevgrafova and her family members were not enough to explain the numerous luxury properties and cars.

According to media reports, Yevgrafova was caught making decisions when she was not even at her workplace.