A sham of integrity: Assistant Head of the High Qualification Commission of Judges with a Russian past and a Maidan judge won the competition for appellate court judges

The Temporary Investigative Commission of the Verkhovna Rada drew attention to the activities of Ruslan Raimov, an assistant to the head of the High Qualification Commission of Judges (HQCJ), who lived in Russia until 2019 and managed companies there. Despite this background, Raimov not only got a job at the HQCJ, but also successfully passed the competition for the position of a judge of the appellate instance, which the HQCJ itself recently held with a scandal, writes UNN.

A few years ago, Raimov tried to get a job at the Office of the Prosecutor General, but failed the competition and was deemed dishonest. Less than two months later, he became an assistant to the head of the HQCJ, Andriy Pasichnyk. It was Pasichnyk who headed the examination commission during the competition, where Raimov showed "successful results."

This fact and the overall format of the competition, where people close to the HQCJ became winners, caused a wave of indignation in the judicial corps. Members of the Temporary Investigative Commission of the Verkhovna Rada are investigating possible bias and conflicts of interest in this procedure.

"Regarding integrity - this is the most interesting story - no one knows what it is, no one knows how to evaluate it, but everyone has their own, and everyone can have different assessments for the same thing. For example, Mr. Moskal, who took first place, has 10 decisions of the so-called Maidan. Well, nothing is written about this in the decision at all. I reviewed it, it was mentioned in the interview, but only in passing. A judge of the first instance is dismissed for this if you have decisions related to the Maidan. Mr. Moskal takes first place. And why? Because it turns out that Mr. Moskal is a classmate of Kydysiuk (Roman Kydysiuk - member of the HQCJ) and Maselko (Roman Maselko - member of the HRP)," said one of the competition participants who was present at the TIC meeting.

Judges-contestants who testified before the TIC reported that the successful passage of some candidates was possible due to personal connections in the HQCJ. According to them, the procedure for selecting judges has turned into an "internal club for their own," and the criteria of integrity into a declarative formality.

Members of the TIC also questioned the head of the HQCJ, Andriy Pasichnyk, about the criteria the commission uses to determine the integrity of candidates, when even the very concept of "integrity" has no legal definition.

In particular, questions were also raised at the TIC about how Judge Rostyslav Moskal, who has court decisions related to the events of the Revolution of Dignity, received the highest score in the competition and won the competition for a judge of the appellate instance.

Recall

The head of the TIC, Serhiy Vlasenko, announced that a criminal case had been opened against HQCJ officials at the request of the parliamentary commission due to alleged fraud during the competition and interference in information systems. The investigation is to check the facts of official forgery, abuse of influence, and possible manipulation of competition results.