NABU. How Georgian Miho is being led to the helm of the Anti-Corruption Bureau

Serious passions flared up around the appointment of the head of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), whom the authorities promise to introduce in the near future. Despite the allegedly announced competition to fill the still vacant position of the country’s chief anti-corruption fighter, a campaign has begun in the media to impose the “no alternative” to the appointment of a person with a very dubious reputation as head of the Bureau. We are talking about the ex-president of Georgia and part-time lover of chewed ties, Mikheil Saakashvili.

Anti-corruption in Ukrainian: We promote Misha – we sneeze at the laws!

The fact that a former odious Georgian leader could be appointed to the post of head of the Anti-Corruption Bureau was seriously discussed at the end of December last year. Then, in an interview with the online publication Censor.net, Miho spoke at length about his alleged successes in the fight against corruption in the former post-Soviet republic. Having opened up, Saakashvili, in particular, said that he was an ardent opponent of nepotism in government agencies. Because of this, he even quarreled with a number of his relatives, who asked for help in resolving certain issues from an influential official. Subsequently, they began to attend opposition rallies, demanding his resignation.

At the same time, the chief editor of Censor, Yuri Butusov, at the end of the interview, as if inadvertently, asked whether Mikhail Nikolaevich would like to head the Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine. Moreover, apparently delighted with the fables of the “Caucasian horseman” about how he managed to break the backbone of Georgian corruption, the editor-in-chief did not hesitate to compliment him. Thus, he bluntly stated that “your name would not only be a symbol to the whole world that we are serious about fighting corruption, but also a signal to investors that their rights will be protected.” That’s it! With the appointment of Saakashvili as head of NABU, following Butusov’s logic, in Ukraine it will be possible to defeat not only the corruption hydra, but also, apparently, to strengthen the shaky hryvnia.

At the same time, Saakashvili then cautiously noted that he was “ready to participate in the creation of this service,” but it is unlikely that anyone in the Ukrainian “highest” would seriously discuss his candidacy. Knowledgeable people will clearly understand that with this interview, a kind of special operation began in the country with the involvement of the media to prepare public opinion for the fact that the post of head of the Anti-Corruption Bureau should be taken by none other than the foreigner Saakashvili.

Such assumptions clearly confirm the efforts of members of the Competition Commission to elect candidates for the post of NABU director, who in early January allowed foreigners to run for this post. Moreover, they did this in violation of the relevant law on the Anti-Corruption Bureau. Indeed, one can “sneeze at the law” for the sake of the “victory over corruption” looming somewhere on the horizon. As they say, production costs. Production of another fiery fighter for justice with a burning Caucasian temperament.

Let us recall that in addition to Saakashvili, two more foreigners applied for the post of head of the Bureau – US federal prosecutor of Ukrainian origin Bogdan Vitvitsky and Director General of the European Anti-Fraud Office Giovanni Kessler. However, the latter recused himself and instead joined the above-mentioned commission for electing the director of NABU. Well, Vitvitsky, an American of Ukrainian origin, does not meet the age requirement, since he is already 66 years old.

Based on this, in the domestic “independent” media, here and there, “authoritative experts” began to speak with a smart look that in order to defeat corruption in the country, like a good wizard, Misha urgently needed to be discharged from sunny Georgia.

Thus, a member of the Public Council for Lustration under the Ministry of Justice, Karl Volokh, believes that Saakashvili “is the best thing that can happen to Ukraine in the near future.” Arguing for such rosy prospects, the Ministry of Justice lustrator cites as an example his experience of fighting corruption in Georgia, allegedly under conditions similar to those in Ukraine. True, how conditions can be similar in a country with a population comparable to the Donetsk region and one of the largest states in Europe, which is Ukraine, the expert explained in a very original way.

Like, it’s not about the size of the country, but about the mentality of the citizens – for Georgians, corruption is one of the components of the national mentality, and Saakashvili seemed to have managed to defeat it. It turns out that, according to Volokh’s logic, bribes and kickbacks in the Ukrainian law enforcement system, which have been flourishing for decades, are not at all a consequence of the peculiar “mentality” of officials? They just take it, presumably, according to the expert, not from a good life.

Deputy from the “Petro Poroshenko Bloc” Yuri Solovey, who called the possible appointment of Saakashvili “the right and cool step for Ukraine,” is ready to literally “applaud” the arrival of the Georgian Varangian in the Ukrainian law enforcement system.

Based on this, we can conclude that there is a widespread campaign in the country to “install” the ex-leader of Georgia to the post of the country’s chief anti-corruption official.

Moreover, Saakashvili himself, a month and a half later, announced in an interview with the same “Censor” that he was supposedly ripe to participate in the competition for the post of director of the Anti-Corruption Bureau. In this case, almost a hundred registered other candidates for the post of head of NABU and the holding of a competitive selection, one can assume, is nothing more than a profanity.

Saakashvili crushed the opposition and spent budget money on Botox and hair removal

True, the piquancy in this whole story with the appointment of a foreign legionnaire to the post of chief anti-corruption official in Ukraine is given by the fact that in his homeland the former leader of Georgia… has been put on the international wanted list. The corresponding decision was made by the country’s Chief Prosecutor’s Office in September last year.

Let us note that persons on such a wanted list pose an increased danger and are subject to arrest by the law enforcement forces of every state in the world with subsequent extradition to the country that sent the corresponding request to Interpol. Apparently, this fact does not at all confuse today’s Ukrainian lobbyists for Miho’s candidacy and they, as if wearing rose-colored glasses, continue to stubbornly read the mantra to the public about the successes of the Georgian reformer.

Instead, it is very interesting to look at the real state of affairs in the field of fighting corruption and protecting human rights during Saakashvili’s almost 10-year rule in the country of wine and tangerines.

Thus, during his presidency, the ardent “supporter of democracy” Miho was remembered for the fact that, on his instructions, the security forces harshly suppressed any anti-government actions. In particular, on November 7, 2007, local police dispersed an opposition rally in Tbilisi. On the same day, in the capital of Georgia, the local television company Imedi, which was not particularly fond of the current regime, was destroyed. Such is the love for freedom of speech on the part of the authorities of the Saakashvili era!

The participants of the opposition “People’s Assembly” also suffered in the spring of 2011, when about three thousand people held their rally on the eve of the large-scale celebration of Georgian Independence Day in Tbilisi. Then, during the dispersal of people who came to express their dissatisfaction with the regime, police special forces used water cannons, rubber bullets and tear gas. As a result, two people died, and several dozen more opposition-minded Georgians were injured.

During the reign of Saakashvili, another scandal occurred related to the activities of the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Bacho Akhalay. We are talking about a video that appeared on the Internet showing torture and rape of prisoners in a Goldan prison, filmed by guards.

According to Georgian human rights activists, the organizer of the lawlessness in places of serving punishment was none other than the chief of the “best police in the world,” Akhalaia. Then this scandal received international publicity and Saakashvili had no choice but to fire over 40 high-ranking security officials.

Georgian prosecutors also accuse Saakashvili of wasting about $5 million from the state budget for personal needs. Moreover, as it turned out, in order to disguise their actions, such expenses were spent on the classified part of the budget funds of the special state security service in the period from 2009 to 2012.

Thus, about 450 thousand dollars were spent from the state budget on the services of cosmetologists for Saakashvili and his family during the specified time. Of these, more than half went directly to maintaining the beauty of the head of state – paying for Botox injections and hair removal in one of the European clinics.

In addition, Saakashvili is accused of purchasing expensive watches with state money, renting business-class cars, a yacht and a helicopter. And all this in a country where, like in Ukraine, the average salary does not exceed $200 a month! Here is such an interesting character, who with his “experience” can give good “lessons” to many domestic prosecutors and cops, “reaches out” today as a fighter against corruption in Ukraine.

Is that why Miho enlisted Poroshenko’s support?

True, against the backdrop of the “bring Misha to NABU” campaign, quite intelligent thoughts are being expressed in the country regarding, to put it mildly, the inexpediency of such a step on the part of the Ukrainian authorities.

For example, the head of the Ukrainian representative office of the international anti-corruption organization Transparency International, Andrei Marusov, in an interview with Novoye Vremya magazine, directly stated that he has a negative attitude towards the idea of ​​appointing Saakashvili to the post of head of NABU. Arguing his position, he advised remembering, for example, the story of the Georgian press during the time of Saakashvili, apparently hinting at the above-mentioned fact with the Imedi TV channel.

In addition, People’s Deputy Oleg Lyashko is not delighted with Saakashvili, who recently noted that the presence of the ex-head of Georgia in a leadership position in the Anti-Corruption Bureau somehow does not quite correlate with the criminal cases opened against him in his homeland.

Meanwhile, in favor of Saakashvili’s candidacy is the huge lobby that is being given to him today on Bankova. It is not without reason that deputies from the pro-presidential majority speak out in support of Miho. It seems that Poroshenko himself made a bet on the ex-president of Georgia and presidential solidarity apparently played a role here, and long-standing acquaintances came in handy – both are godfathers of another president, Viktor Yushchenko.

Thus, the country continues to place “our people” in key positions in the security agencies, initiated by Poroshenko. And often, people with very dubious achievements in the past.

Based on the above, “Prosecutor’s Truth” has several questions:

– How does the desire of the “tops” to appoint Mikheil Saakashvili as head of the Anti-Corruption Bureau generally correlate with the fact that this character has been put on the international wanted list in Georgia?

– why did the competition commission for selecting the director of NABU violate the law on the anti-corruption bureau by allowing a foreigner to be nominated for this post?

– and finally, the main question: is Ukraine really lacking its own honest and decent people with an unblemished reputation and because of this it is necessary to resort to the help of foreign “guests”?

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