The Ukrainian Weekly quotes Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center Resident Senior Fellow Anders Aslund on the need for reform in Ukraine’s corrupt judicial system:
“I agree with the approach taken by Pyatt and Nuland,” said Dr. Anders Aslund, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council in Washington who has been involved in Ukrainian reforms for two decades. “The fight against corruption in the judicial system must start at the top of the Prosecutor General’s Office.”
Both Dr. Aslund and Vitaly Portnikov, a prominent Ukrainian political commentator, said Ms. Nuland’s emphasis on the newly created Inspector General’s Office and National Anti-Corruption Bureau won’t be an effective strategy in reforming the Procurator General’s Office.
Dr. Aslund said the emphasis needs to be on lustration, cutting the office’s personnel by as much as three-quarters and more than quadrupling the salaries of those remaining. Mr. Portnikov said the body’s complete independence from the Presidential Administration is critical.
“In essence, Nuland’s statement is not even a signal, but it’s a warning of what reforms Ukraine truly needs in order to conquer corruption and ensure the country’s economic rebirth,” he wrote in an October 9 column for the liga.net news site.
“It’s understood that there won’t be any real changes until the prosecutor’s office becomes an independent instrument. And it’s understood that Ukrainian politicians are hiding – and American diplomats don’t know or don’t want to know – the essence of what’s happening,” Dr. Aslund noted.