HACC has become dependent on NABU and SAPO, scandals continue to surround it - the legal community has made a sharp statement

The High Anti-Corruption Court is degrading to the level of a "Soviet district court" due to its dependence on the NABU-SAPO. This is confirmed by a number of recent scandals and a "catastrophic" failure in IQ testing, which shocked even the public defenders of the HACC. Political expert Oleh Posternak wrote about this in his blog, UNN reports.

According to him, in the last months of the year, the number of scandals compromising the entire composition of the High Anti-Corruption Court has increased dramatically.

"The main topics include the "leaking" of high-profile cases involving corrupt officials who then flee abroad; the luxurious lifestyle of HACC judges in the midst of the war; and the court's performance of NABU and SAPO tasks, which is increasingly reminiscent of the practice of the Soviet themis. The culmination of these processes is the decline in the overall intellectual level of the HACC and its applicants: the recent failure of the judiciary to pass IQ tests shocked even the public defenders of the anti-corruption court," the expert wrote.

He recalled the words of lawyer Taras Baranov about the HACC's professed post-totalitarian approach - playing along with NABU detectives and SAPO prosecutors. And lawyer Rostislav Kravets stated that the HACC's actions directly repeat the 37th year of the last century: back then, people did not know why and on what basis they were accused.

Among other scandals from the HACC, Posternak cites the extortion of half a million hryvnias from the state by HACC judge Kateryna Sikora with the help of colleagues in another court. Another judge of the High Anti-Corruption Court, Valeria Chorna, became the owner of a luxury car at the height of the war - a BMW X6. Judge Mykola Glotov, who broke down in tears when he was recused from the court hearing, nevertheless purchased a Tesla for almost UAH 2 million in the year since the start of the full-scale invasion. Judge Markiyan Halabala illegally received official housing and failed to disclose a number of other items in his declaration. Vitaliy Kryklyvyi, whose wife wrote court decisions for him, was also involved in housing fraud.

In addition, the expert cited data that, according to the results of the IQ test, only 25 candidates out of 74 candidates for HACC judges scored a passing grade. Out of 49 candidates for judges of the HACC Appeals Chamber, only 19 candidates scored a passing grade.

Mr. Posternak emphasized that this is a judicial body that was established not long ago under the supervision of our partners and civil society.

"There is a famous saying attributed to the second President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma: "No matter what kind of party is built, it always turns out to be the CPSU". In our case, no matter what kind of court is created, it turns out to be a "Soviet People's Court," the expert wrote.

According to Posternak, the Polish scenario, where the new coalition that won the election last year provided for the liquidation of the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau in the agreement, could be a consequence of degradation.

"In our realities, we may be talking about demolishing the entire anti-corruption triangle - NABU-SAPO-HACC - as ineffective, at least. In reality, it is harmful," the expert summarized.