Viktor Pshonka

Viktor Pavlovych Pshonka (Віктор Павлович Пшонка, Russian: Виктор Павлович Пшонка; born 6 February 1954) is a politician from Ukraine, who served as Prosecutor General of Ukraine from 2010 to 2014.

He was also the State Counselor of Justice of Ukraine and member of the High Council of Justice of Ukraine.

He holds a Doctor of Laws degree, and is a member of the International Association of Prosecutors.

During his tenure as General Prosecutor, Pshonka focused on modernisation, environmental standards and is noted for starting an investigation into Burisma.

Viktor Pshonka was born on 6 February 1954 in Serhiivka, Slovyansk District of Donetsk Oblast.

After graduating from high school he was called up for military service in the Soviet Army.

Having discharged from army, he got a job at one of the enterprises in Donetsk Oblast.

In 1975, Viktor Pshonka enrolled at the Kharkiv Law Institute.

In 1980, he began work at Kramatorsk Prosecutor's Office in Donetsk Oblast, where he served as investigator, and eventually as an assistant to prosecutor of the city of Kramatorsk.

From 1986 till 1997, Viktor Pshonka served as prosecutor of Kramatorsk City.

In 1997, he was appointed first deputy prosecutor of Donetsk Oblast.

In 1998–2003, he was prosecutor of Donetsk Oblast, one of the biggest regions in Ukraine.

Ihor Oleksandrovych Aleksandrov who was an investigative reporter and presenter for the independent television station TOR TV («ТОР») in Sloviansk was murdered in 2001 while producing a program for the series "Bez Retushi" (Without Touching Up) (Без ретуші) which was exposing links between politicians, law enforcement, and organized crime in Kramatorsk; Pshonka was one of two men Aleksandrov had identified as godfathering the Kramatorsk underworld.

Pshonka then oversaw the investigation of the murder.

A homeless man was later charged but acquitted in the case, dying of 'mysterious circumstances' soon after; the same fate that befell the two witnesses and investigating police officer.

In November 2003, Viktor P. Pshonka was appointed Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine.

He was in charge of prosecutor's supervision over observance of laws by the agencies of the Ministry of Interior, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), tax police and special units combating organized crime and corruption.

He was also responsible for supervision over state customs service and border guard.

He resigned voluntarily from his office in December 2004, but returned to the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine at the end of 2006.

In November 2010, members of Ukraine's Parliament voted in favor (292 votes) of Viktor Pshonka's appointment as the General Prosecutor of Ukraine.

Since his appointment to office, Viktor Pshonka has laid emphasis in his activity on bringing Ukrainian prosecution service in line with European standards.

Speaking on the Ukrainian TV channel Inter four days after his appointment, Pshonka called himself "a member of President Viktor Yanukovych's team".

In this regard, V. Pshonka takes active part in consultations and discussions on the issues of improving of the work of prosecution service with experts and representatives of European and international organizations, in particular, the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the Venice Commission, etc., as well as exchange of experience with law enforcement authorities of other states.

In accordance with the new Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine CPC, which entered into force in 2012, the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine led by Pshonka introduced the Unified Register of Pretrial Investigations (computerized system, where all complaints and applications regarding criminal offences in Ukraine are registered), which is used by Ukrainian law enforcement agencies.

In November 2012, the Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics for employees of the prosecution service was adopted by all-Ukrainian Conference of Members of prosecuting agencies.

On 3 March 2012, another innovation during Pshonka's tenure was establishment of the Dnipro Ecological Prosecutor's Office, the main task of which is to oversee compliance with environmental laws in respect of drainage basin of the Dnieper River within the territory of Ukraine.

In 2012, Pshonka as the Prosecutor General of Ukraine began investigating Burisma Holdings owner, Mykola Zlochevsky, over allegations of money laundering, tax evasion, and corruption during 2010-2012.

He is believed to have fled to Russia, and later taken up its citizenship, following the 2014 Ukrainian Revolution.

The new authorities have issued an arrest warrant in his name.

Together, Viktor Pshonka, Viktor Yanukovych, and Vitaly Zakharchenko became guests on the 11th floor of the Hotel Ukraina in Moscow on 25 February 2014.

On 21 February 2014, Yanukovych traveled by helicopter to Kharkiv and then to Donetsk but was denied permission to takeoff from Donetsk, so, he drove to Crimea and then left Crimea for Russia on a Russia government boat.

Similarly, on 22 February 2014, Pshonka left the VIP terminal at Donetsk airport for Russia by having his security detachment occupy the Ukraine border guards.

Upon Pshonka's departure, the luxurious Pshonka mansion near Kyiv at Gorenichi, Kyiv-Svyatoshinsky district (Гореничи, Києво-Святошинський район) was searched and numerous files were discovered.

On 22 February 2014, as a part of the Euromaidan Revolution, the Verkhovna Rada ousted Pshonka in a no-confidence vote.

On 23 February 2014, an arrest warrant was issued to arrest Pshonka.

Early March 2014, the EU froze Pshonka's accounts.

But, on 5 December 2015, Interpol denied a request to put former Prosecutor General of Ukraine Viktor Pshonka on the wanted list allegedly due to the weakness of the evidence submitted by the competent authorities of Ukraine.

Revealed on 31 May 2016 by Serhiy Anatoliyovich Leshchenko (Сергій Анатолійович Лещенко), the secret bookkeeping of Viktor Yanukovych and the Party of Regions' Black Ledger (Чорної книги) or Barn Book (амбарна книга) which implicated numerous persons to improper payments including Paul Manafort for which the book included the handwritten records of 22 payments over five years to Manafort from pro Kremlin and pro Putin sources, nine of which had been signed by Vitaly Anatolyevich Kalyuzhny (Віталій Анатолійович Калюжний) who was the Verkhovna Rada's foreign relations committee chairman.

On 17 August 2016, Donald Trump removed Paul Manafort as Trump's campaign chairman following Trump's first national security briefing directly because of the records in the secret ledger.

In September 2016, Leshchenko referred to these papers as Ukraine's Watergate.