Last autumn’s pre-election scandal surrounding allegations of sexual abuse at the Artek summer camp has ended, at least for the time being, with Parliament closing the issue. The scandal rocked the country last October but on May 21 Parliament decided to disband the commission it set up to probe the issue without approving its report.  In the fall there were suspicions that the timing of the accusations of pedophilia against senior officials, including senior Artek officials and three MPs of the now opposition Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, was certainly no coincidence. The source of rumours was an MP of the now pro-presidential Party of Regions. 

The head of the parliamentary commission, Communist MP Kateryna Samoylyk, said in her address that the investigation had not revealed sufficient evidence against the individuals suspected of molesting children. The problem is is that back in October the interior minister at the time, Yuriy Lutsenko, said that the guilt of the accused molesters was proven.

Though deputy speaker Adam Martynyuk disbanded the commission on the grounds that its period of operation, as stated when it was created, three months, had expired, there was a strange feeling about proceedings. The issue was, after all, discussed on a Friday before a holiday weekend and at the end of the day a cursory “any other business” item on the agenda in a less than half full session hall. There was a feeling of corporate protection of interests in the air. Samoylyk suggested that the imaginations of the children may have been colourful, while rival MPs Oleh Lyashko and Vadym Kolesnichenko traded insults.

The Prosecutor-General’s Office also says there is not enough evidence to prosecute, but there could be a twist to the saga. Now it seems there are no culprits but just empty accusations and tarnished reputations of individuals. The scandal damaged Ukraine’s international reputation. But the real lesson of this scandal is that it is high time for Parliament to finally adopt legislation on creating fully-fledged investigative commissions with teeth so that such commissions do not quietly disappear amongst acrimonious shouts of whitewash.