But on Monday the government announced it would not appoint Tsyvinskyi to the position and instead asked the commission to pick two other candidates.
Civil society groups and lawmakers say the government’s actions are illegal, threaten the independence of law enforcement, and jeopardize international aid — just as Ukrainian officials head from Kyiv to Rome to tout the country’s reforms and plead for more funding at a major recovery conference.
The cabinet, which is led by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, cited “national security” concerns regarding Tsyvinskyi, whose father is Russian. Tsyvinskyi, who has held a security clearance for over a decade and was cleared again during the selection process, says he hasn’t spoken with his father in years.
Even Anastasia Radina, an independent-minded lawmaker from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People party who leads the anti-corruption committee in the country’s parliament, wrote on social media that the government had no legal authority to reject the commission’s pick.
The government did not immediately respond to a request by POLITICO for comment, but in announcing its decision claimed it “fully corresponded” with the law.
But critics of the government’s move said Zelenskyy had in fact opposed Tsyvinskyi’s nomination.