Piskun Gets His One-Way Ticket to the Moon
Svaytoslav Piskun, Ukraine’s perennial prosecutor general, lost his job today. His third term in office lasted but a few weeks until it was terminated by the President, ostensibly on the grounds of violating a regulation that prohibits Cabinet members from holding multiple offices. (Piskun has not relinquished his MP mandate.)
Still, a more objective cause of dismissal would be political disloyalty. Contrary to what had been expected, the comeback arrangement didn’t work out. Once appointed, Piskun did little to distance himself from the Party of Rogues, thus becoming a huge disappointment for Yushchenko.
The eviction procedure, not yet finalized, featured a scuffle between the Yushchenko-controlled State Security Service and the Yanukovych-controlled Berkut riot police.
Key recent appointments:
• Ivan Plyushch, former Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, became Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council
• Oleksander Turchynov, Tymo’s right-hand man, assumed the post of Deputy Secretary of the NSDC
• Valeriy Heletey, head of law enforcement liaison at the Secretariat of the President, took charge of the State Security Service
Thursday, May 24, 2007
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7 comments:
elmer here.
I think this was very clever on the part of Yushchenko's team.
Piskun went forum-shopping to get reinstated. When he finally found a court that ruled in his favor, after several tries, Yushchenko decided to "abide" by that ruling.
Now, he's gone.
Another odious man that should not be in government.
Very, very clever on Yushchenko's part.
now would be a good time to start blogging more often...
dlw
Elmer, I'm sure you'd agree that Yushchenko miscalculated when he let Piskun get his groove back. Thankfully, it didn't take long before Piskun fell from grace:)
David, carpe noctem: Your wish is granted:)
elmer here.
Well, Piskun is out again, and will have to go forum-shopping again, thanks to an appellate court decision upholding his dismissal.
Taras - why do you say that Yushchenko let Piskun get his groove back?
Elmer, I think Yushchenko obeyed that court order and put Piskun in charge mainly because he cherished the expectation of getting something in return. Yushchenko dumped Piskun once it became apparent that the guy had no intention of becoming a double agent. (He stayed true to the PRU.)
Had there been no such expectation in the first place, the President could have exercised the Zhovtyak option.
Former Kyiv Oblast Governor Zhovtyak had obtained a reinstatement order from the court only to watch himself being reinstated and dismissed in a matter of one presidential decree.
In a country where court decisions are bought and sold, somebody has to crash the market a little bit:)
Well, I think that using Berkut to try and keep Piskun in office was as loathsome and odious to Ukrainians as it was to me.
My reaction was - you have GOT to be kidding me. A special swat team raids a government building in order to try to keep a guy in office who has been dismissed by the President for violating the law.
As a lawyer, Piskun should hold to HIGHER standards, not lower ones.
Of all people, he should have respected the law that says you can't be a dual-office holder.
I think it was yet another mistake on the part of the Party of Rogues to send in Berkut, and I hope that the people perceive it that way.
I think the Party of Rogues is going to self-destruct with their mistakes, they are so desparate to hold on to their piggy bank - the government.
And Moroz is like the Wicked Witch of the West in the "Wizard of Oz" movie -
"I'm meeeeltinnnnnnng, oh, my beautiful wickedness, I'm meeeltinnnnnnng, oh, what a world, what a wor....."
Welcome to Ukraine, Elmer:)!
I’m afraid some Ukrainians couldn’t care less: They got used to episodes like this. By the way, do you mind me asking where you are from?
You see, the Party of Rogues is very set in its ways. The good news is that, in a bid to keep the lion’s share of that piggy bank, they will have to start doling out pork-barrel funds. In the absence of an election campaign, not a penny would leave the coffers.
Let us also hope Interior Minister Vasyl Tsushko (Moroz’s protégé), who is undergoing treatment in Germany, won’t be so hard on those unruly antiglobalists:)
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