Ukraine's parliament sacks corruption-tainted prosecutor
Kiev (AFP) - Ukraine's parliament on Tuesday sacked the country's chief prosecutor over his alleged attempts to stall high-profile corruption investigations and cover up state graft.
The decision should cheer Western allies increasingly concerned that the ex-Soviet country is reverting to a culture of sleaze since it ousted a Russian-backed president and chose an alliance with Europe in a historic 2014 revolt.
Lawmakers voted by an overwhelming 289 votes to six to accept the resignation of prosecutor general Viktor Shokin from the post he has held since February 2015.
"Hallelujah! Finally!" Ukraine's reformist acting Economy Minister Aivaras Abromavicius tweeted moments after the vote.
Shokin has been ensnared in a web of ugly charges that also cast a cloud over Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's commitment to the policy of clean hands he promised when elected in May 2014.
His many detractors accused Shokin of failing to look into the reported theft of state funds by the deposed Russian-backed leadership.
He is also accused of blocking probes into prosecutors fired after cash and diamonds were discovered in their homes.
Shokin has also allegedly covered up the corrupt dealings of people close to the ruling regime.
Poroshenko asked Shokin to quit in the face of mounting pressure during a rowdy February 16 parliament session that saw Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk survive a no-confidence vote.
Shokin submitted his letter of resignation but did not go out without a fight.
One of his final acts in office on Tuesday was to fire his deputy Davit Sakvarelidze -- a vocal critic who had called for his boss's dismissal.
Shokin said he was removing Sakvarelidze "for grave violations of prosecutors' ethics and interference in the work of another prosecutor."
Sakvarelidze retorted on Tuesday that Shokin's understanding of ethics involved "theft, corruption and a conspiracy of silence".
- Stormy political future -
Yatsenyuk's decision to cling on to his premiership post has created a new wave of uncertainty over the political stability of a nation already suffering from a nearly two-year conflict in the pro-Russian separatist east.
Poroshenko last week again called on Yatsenyuk -- a fierce foe of Russia whose rumoured ties to powerful tycoons have seen his approval plummet -- to finally step down and for parliament to pick his successor during Tuesday's session.
The president's party has already appointed parliament speaker Volodymyr Groysman to head the future cabinet.
Nomura International strategist Timothy Ash said Groysman "did a reasonable job as speaker of parliament and has obviously built cross-party relations."
But Ash added in an editorial published in the Kyiv Post on Thursday that he was "not sure that Groysman is an improvement on Yatsenyuk in terms of being able to build and sell a reform agenda."
It is still not clear whether Yatsenyuk will eventually agree to resign.
Parliament cannot try to oust the prime minister twice in the same session and Ash said that "presumably a deal has been done to move Yatsenyuk aside" and possibly give him Groysman's current post.
The chamber's largest factions held separate consultations on Tuesday about what to do about Yatsenyuk and whether to keep the pro-Western ruling coalition intact.
The president can call snap elections within a month should the ruling majority break up. Poroshenko would prefer to avoid that option because his own ratings have fallen along with Yatsenyuk's.
But one of the leaders of the 2014 revolution now serving in parliament said Tuesday's coalition talks were deadlocked because each side was coming up with new demands.
"I can say that today's talks have failed," the Ukrainska Pravda news site quoted Mustafa Nayyem as saying.