Five heads of regional prosecutor’s offices and one head of a specialised prosecutor’s office have submitted their resignations: Andriy Kostin

The Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Andriy Kostin, has announced that five heads of regional prosecutor’s offices and one head of a specialised prosecutor’s office have submitted their resignations. These are the heads of prosecutor’s offices in Zaporizhzhya, Rivne, Ternopil, Kharkiv, Cherkasy regions and the specialised defence prosecutor’s office in the Southern region. The reason was that all of them received increased pensions awarded by a court decision based on length of service.

An internal investigation has now been launched to determine whether these prosecutors were granted the status of persons with disabilities and received pension payments.

Kostin also informed that the Prosecutor General’s Office held the first meeting of the independent commission established to select candidates for the personnel reserve for senior positions in regional and district prosecutor’s offices. He stressed that he had initiated the creation of this commission to increase the transparency of appointments. This is one of the first steps of a comprehensive reform of the prosecutor’s office staff, which was launched in July this year. The commission is to assess the professional qualities and reputation of candidates.

In addition, the Council of Prosecutors supported the initiative to amend the Law ‘On the Prosecutor’s Office’ to make it impossible for prosecutors to receive pensions and salaries at the same time. According to the proposed amendments, seniority payments will be made only after completion of work in the position, i.e. the principle of ‘either salary or pension’ is introduced.

Kostin added that these proposals will be submitted for legislative consideration. It has not been specified who will come up with the legislative initiative, but in Ukraine, bills can be submitted by MPs, the president or the Cabinet of Ministers.