The whole “Biden gets Ukraine to fire prosecutor, it must have been for nefarious ends” story often fails to cover that the IMF, EU, World Bank and many Ukrainians wanted Sorkin fired because they thought he wasn’t investigating corruption. The Burisima investigation, which he had inherited, was allegedly being slow-walked under him!
To be clear I think that Hunter Biden being employed was a clear case of influence peddling by the company and if it broke any laws then charge him. However the prosecutor firing seems like something that was done to improve, rather than delay, anticorruption actions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Shokin
Shokin was appointed Prosecutor General of Ukraine on 10 February 2015, replacing
Vitaly Yarema.
[8] He was a controversial appointee due to his perceived role in blocking prosecutions against those accused of shooting demonstrators in the
2014 Ukrainian revolution.
[9] As Prosecutor General, he was accused of blocking major cases against allies and influential figures and hindering the fight against
corruption in Ukraine.
[10]
In early April 2015, Shokin stated that the General Prosecutor Ukraine (GPU) files about criminal orders from former General Prosecutor
Viktor Pshonka[a] had disappeared, along with Pshonka's secret casework and secret materials. Shokin stated, "I will tell you more: not only criminal cases, but classified materials have disappeared - secret records, including those related to the orders of Victor Pshonka." (
Russian: Виктор Шокин: "Я вам больше скажу: пропали не только уголовные дела, но секретные материалы – секретное делопроизводство. В том числе, то, что касалось распоряжений Виктора Пшонки.").
[16][17][18]
Various street protests demanding Shokin's resignation were held.
[19][20][21] On 2 November 2015, there was an assassination attempt against him when an unidentified sniper fired three shots into his office, but was foiled by the bulletproof glass window.
[22] In response to a query from
Ukrainian News Agency in late 2019, the
Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) acknowledged that it is continuing to investigate the attempted assassination of Shokin.
[23]
Through 2015 and early 2016, domestic and international pressure (including from the
IMF, the
EU, and the
EBRD) built for Shokin to be removed from office. The
Obama administration withheld $1 billion in loan guarantees to pressure the Ukrainian government to remove Shokin from office.
[24][25][26]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Shokin#cite_note-29 His defenders nonetheless argued that he played an important role "balancing competing political interests".[28] His Deputy Prosecutor, Vitaly Kasko, announced his resignation on 15 February 2016 denouncing the corruption and lawlessness of the Prosecutor's office.[29] Shokin was also criticized in Ukraine for failing to prosecute snipers who killed demonstrators during the revolution, as well as for failing to investigate corrupt businesses.[30]
Investigation into Burisma Holdings[edit]
In 2012, the Ukrainian prosecutor general Viktor Pshonka began investigating Ukrainian oligarch Mykola Zlochevsky, owner of the natural gas company Burisma Holdings, over allegations of money laundering, tax evasion, and corruption during 2010–2012.[41][42]
In 2015, Shokin became the prosecutor general, inheriting the investigation. The Obama administration and other governments and non-governmental organizations soon became concerned that Shokin was not adequately pursuing corruption in Ukraine, was protecting the political elite, and was regarded as "an obstacle to anti-corruption efforts".[26][43] Among other issues, he was slow-walking the investigation into Zlochevsky and Burisma and, according to Zlochevsky's allies, using the threat of prosecution to try to solicit bribes from Mr. Zlochevsky and his team – to the extent that Obama officials were considering launching their own criminal investigation into the company for possible money laundering.[41]
