Yatsenyuk’s MPs attack Hontareva

Photo: Konstantin Melnitsky

Members of the People’s Front faction in the Verkhovna Rada started collection of signatures in favor of resignation of the Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine Valeria Hontareva, according to lawmaker Pavlo Rizanenko (Petro Poroshenko Bloc).

«Our partners from the People’s Front are already collecting signatures in favor of Hontareva’s resignation. They offered me to sign the document and I said I would sign it by all means with a similar initiative for resignation of Avakov,» said Rizanenko, according to whom the MPs have already collected «several dozens» of signatures. The MP assumed that in such a manner some forces were trying to start a «war between the People’s Front and the Petro Poroshenko Bloc for destabilization and collapse of the coalition».

In turn, MP Pavlo Pynzenyk (People’s Front) told Capital that he knew nothing about the initiative regarding Hontareva. «I can neither confirm this information nor disprove it. Our faction made no decisions as to collection of signatures. I would not rule out that it was a personal initiative from some of our lawmakers,» said Pynzenyk.

Capital learned that collection of signatures was initiated by the former Chairman of the State Commission for Regulation of Financial Services Markets of Ukraine Maksym Polyakov (People’s Front), who registered a corresponding resolution in the VR at the end of last week. Polyakov himself, who holds the position of Secretary of the VR Committee on Financial Policy and Banking, said that members of the Deputy Control inter-faction union were in charge of collection of signatures. «On February 4 me and my colleagues Hennadiy Kryvosheya of the People’s Front and Vitaliy Kupriy of the PPB registered the resolution On Stabilization of the Work of the National Bank, in which we requested that the President of Ukraine gives an objective assessment to the performance of the NBU governor. We gathered 39 signatures within one day alone from deputies of the People’s Front, the Petro Poroshenko Bloc and the Samopomich. We believe that today the banking system needs to be rescued from Hontareva. She is the undertaker to our currency. The losses in the banking system by actions of Hontareva are comparable to Ukraine’s losses in the war in the east of the country,» said Polyakov.

He is optimistic about the results of collection of signatures. «The fact that such number of MPs signed the document just in one day gives hope. We are not trying to rock the boat, because we do not call for Hontareva’s resignation. Our document contains a direct appeal to the president asking him to take personnel decisions and order an investigation from the Prosecutor General’s Office on possible abuse or corrupt practice,» said the source.

Who are the initiators?

Noteworthy, Kryvosheya and Polyakov have been members of Yatsenyuk’s team for a while (since the times of the Front for Change). Last March Polyakov was appointed by Yatsenyuk’s Cabinet a member of the State Commission for Regulation of Financial Services Markets of Ukraine and on April 8 he was appointed Acting Chairman of the agency. Even though lawyers have repeatedly pointed out the illegality of the Cabinet’s decisions, because members and chairman of the State Commission for Regulation of Financial Services Markets of Ukraine should be appointed by the president, it did not prevent Polyakov from fulfilling the duties assigned by the government.

Before the election to the parliament Kryvosheya held the office of Chairman of the Pechersk District City Administration in Kyiv. He received the position thanks to the efforts of MP Leonid Yemets (People’s Front), to whom Kryvosheya has been an assistant for a long time, according to Capital’s sources. He was elected to the parliament on the list of the People’s Front.

Vitaliy Kupriy was elected to the Rada as a candidate of the PPB in a first-past-the-post constituency in Dnipropetrovsk oblast. He won the elections with the support of the team of the Chairman of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast State Administration Ihor Kolomoiskiy, according to Capital’s sources.

Dim outlook

Serhiy Rudyk, member of the Svoboda party (independent), elected to the parliament in a first-past-the-post constituency, does not rule out that collection of signatures could be a way for the People’s Front to «square accounts» with the PPB. «Yet I have numerous questions to Hontaereva’s performance and if I were asked to sign the resolution, I would do it,» said Rudyk. He found it difficult to predict whether there was a sufficient number of votes in the parliament for Hontareva’s dismissal.

The Samopomіch faction has not discussed the issue of collection of signatures for resignation of the NBU governor yet, according to member of the faction Viktoria Voitsytska. At the same time, she does not believe in success of the initiators of the resolution. «Let us not engage in populism; if there are complaints against Hontareva’s performance, lawmakers should offer some solutions,» said Voitsytska, adding that she had no intentions to sign the document.

MP Ihor Shurma (Opposition Bloc) considers the Polyakov’s resolution to be a piece of evidence confirming the growing contradictions between the PPB and the People’s Front. «Since the People’s Front brought the issue up for public discussion, it means they do not want to solve it at a coalition meeting. They started backbiting against each other,» said Shurma.

MP Ihor Popov (Radical Party) agrees. «Collection of signatures is a continuation of the confrontation between the president’s and the premier’s teams,» he believes. However, the MP does not rule out that the faction will decide to support the initiative. «In our understanding, the NBU’s management made specific errors, for which they should answer,» said Popov.

As a reminder, in December the VR Committee on Financial Policy and Banking was considering the matter of resignation of the NBU governor. Yet, in the end the deputies refused to initiate a corresponding resolution. In January, Hontareva delivered a speech in the parliament and reported on the work done. In particular, she said that the NBU alone could not be held responsible for the devaluation of the national currency.