On December 24, 2021, the selection commission again failed to approve the results and winner of the competition for the election of the SAPO head. This time the reasons were as follows:
- differences in the interpretation of the Law “On the Prosecutor’s Office”;
- demand of the chair of the commission to confirm the compliance of background checks and access to state secret by the Prosecutor General’s Office;
- Oleksandr Klymenko’s first place in both ratings (for the position of head and deputy);
- etc.
The biggest stumbling block was the wording that candidates were presented to the Prosecutor General’s Office “only after the selection commission receives confirmation ‘on passing a background check and having access to state secret’.”
At the same time, the commission has such information, but as of April 16, 2021. However, this caused outrage among the chair of the commission Kateryna Koval, who used an “ultimatum” argument: “or maybe criminal proceedings have already been opened against him?” Let us remind you that Oleksandr Klymenko is a detective and head of a NABU department.
Moreover, during the discussion, Yevhen Sobol and Viacheslav Navrotskyi left the meeting, which caused the quorum to break up and the meeting was paused until 6:30 pm.
Subsequently, the chair of the commission announced draft decisions for approval of the results:
- “Short,” that is, the one that was supposed to be approved on December 21;
- One by Kateryna Koval, chair of the commission;
- One by Roman Kuibida, member of the commission from the Council of Prosecutors;
- A compromise one;
- A mix of suggestions from Koval, Kuibida, and Romaniuk.
None of these drafts were approved. In particular, Andrii Hudzhal did not support any of these projects and said that he would not vote on this issue until answers were received from the Prosecutor General’s Office. It is worth noting that he was the only one who did not vote for a decision that satisfied everyone.
The date of the next meeting is still unknown, and the final promised by the President is 7 days away.
The biggest stumbling block was the wording that candidates were presented to the Prosecutor General's Office “only after the selection commission receives confirmation ‘on passing a background check and having access to state secret’.”
