The Public Council of International Experts has finished its work on the estimation of the integrity of the candidates for the post of judges of Anti-corruption court

Ukraine can be congratulated on great achievements in the creation of a principally new system of judges’ appointment, which is unique to the world experience. Thus, Chairman of Public Council of International Experts Sir Anthony Hooper commented on the results of the interview within the appointment of the judges of Ukraine’ Supreme Anti-corruption court as the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine reported.

According to the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine (HQCJU), on January 28, the Public Council of International Experts has finished its work on the estimation of the integrity of the candidates for the post of judges of Anti-corruption court.

According to Sir Anthony Hooper, the experts got the maximal assistance from the HQCJU.

“It was impossible to work closer and more qualitative together than we did”.

He emphasized that Ukraine is the first and only country in the world, which invited international experts for participation in the appointment process of the judges.

“Secondly, I would like to tell about the transparency of the procedures. The process and procedures of the appointment of judges have the zero transparency in my country. And here, you can watch on YouTube, and I hope you watched, how we questioned the candidates; it was not simple questions about their state and so on, it was immediately shown on YouTube. Once more, I do not know any country of the world, which has reached such level of transparency in the procedures of the appointment to such high posts. I think, Ukraine should be congratulated,” Hooper said.

Sir Anthony Hooper has 60-years experience as the lawyer in the UK and Canada and he got judicial practice during the worked with corruption cases and anti-corruption legislation before he headed the Public Council. Ukrainian experience became something unique even for him:

“Despite my entire carrier; the things we did were something unusual. The law on the anti-corruption court gave an extremely big and important role to the international experts, particularly; it provided them with the right for a veto against the candidates for the post of judge. Any of us participated in something like this before. And, according to my opinion, Ukraine should be proud of such law and things we could do along with the HQCJU to reach the results.”

According to Sir Anthony Hooper, the task of the international experts was not to prove corruption of a candidate but to have some doubts toward his integrity and professional suitability.

“We have studied all the materials, all the documents provided by the candidates. We questioned all candidates in the written form; it’s 100 different forms, where the candidates were asked to explain, for example, why their flat or car were bought at the price twice lower than a market one. Or, why, there is an inconsistency between the income and spent funds. And similar questions”.

Candidates, who were not able to fundamentally answer the questions, could not compete further. 39 candidates out of 113 left the competition at integrity state. Another seven will continue to compete, three decided to quit the race. 71 candidates are ready for the next stage of the competition.

Earlier President Petro Poroshenko stated that the creation of the Supreme Anti-corruption Court of Ukraine will finish in February 2019.

We recall that in June 2018, the law on the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court came into effect in Ukraine, as well as a formal law on the creation of the Anti-Corruption Court. According to the documents, the Higher Anti-Corruption Court must be formed before June 14, 2019. To begin its work, it is necessary to recruit at least 35 anti-corruption judges, at least 10 of them should be representatives of the Appeals Chamber.