The Ukrainian government is launching a National Bureau of Investigations to investigate corruption, as well as an anti-corruption package of laws.
The Ukrainian government is launching a separate law enforcement organ to investigate corruption, as well as an anti-corruption package of laws, as part of recent initiatives to intensify efforts.
President Viktor Yushchenko announced plans for the National Bureau of Investigations (NBR) on April 15 at a meeting of the Council to Fight Against Corruption, issuing a decree the same day creating an interdepartmental group that will create the NBR and measure the success of corruption countermeasures.
“The present situation with anti-corruption measures in Ukraine is threatening” the nation, Yushchenko said, adding that Prosecutor General Oleksandr Medvedko will lead the interdepartmental group.
Corruption plagues Ukraine’s economy and hinders investment growth, the president said, pointing out Ukraine ranked 118th out of 180 countries surveyed globally in Transparency International’s 2007 Corruption Perceptions Index, ranking his nation near Mali, Malawi and Benin.
The US government recently tried to help Ukraine in its efforts.
In July 2006, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) gave Ukraine $45 million to finance a twoyear anticorruption initiative, administered through the United States Agency for International Development.
The initiative aims to reduce corruption in the public sector through strengthening civil society’s monitoring and exposure of public corruption, reforming the judiciary, increasing government monitoring and enforcement of ethical and administrative standards, among other measures.
The results of the initiative will be announced in July of this year.
During the 2007 parliamentary election, many of the parties’ campaign promises included anticorruption initiatives.
The Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc promised to decrease corruption by introducing mandatory income declarations for all state officials and public servants, and toughening criminal responsibility for corrupt practices, including life imprisonment.
However, none of these measures have been implemented.
The Our UkrainePeople’s Self Defense Bloc promised to establish a national anticorruption bureau that would examine the expenditures of top state officials to see if they match their declared incomes, and set up an independent court chamber to recertify all judges and investigate their sources of income.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Justice drafted an anticorruption package of laws, which includes limiting the authority of government staff, adopting Council of Europe Convention on Corruption norms into law and requiring officials to publicly declare their annual personal revenues and expenses.
The Ministry’s initiatives received high praise from international experts, Justice Minister Mykola Onischuk told an April 14 press conference.
In fact, Renata Wohlwend of the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe sent the minister a letter asking parliament and all those responsible to pass the anticorruption package of laws.
An atmosphere of tolerating corruption and obsolete laws remain failures in the fight against corruption, Yushchenko said in his remarks, stressing that disagreements and misunderstandings among law enforcement bodies was a main reason for these failings.
Directed by Medvedko, the NBR will form and enforce a single governmental anticorruption plan of action, as well as draft legislation.
The existing anticorruption legislation gives the impression the government doesn’t have the slightest intention to fight corruption, Yushchenko said.
These are now being addressed in the current discussions.
Ukrainian law doesn’t consider corruption a criminal offense, but merely an administrative violation, punishable with a maximum fine of Hr 220, Yuriy Lutsenko, the internal affairs minister, said at the April 15 council meeting.
“Our legislation doesn’t even provide for removing someone from their post if they are accused of corruption,” he said.
Maksym Motaylo, head of the Institute of Democratic Society Projects, didn’t say whether the NBR would be effective, but recommended an effective way to combat corruption would be to give “higher salaries to officials, but also a higher level of responsibility for corruption.”
“Just take an objective look at what they (government workers) own, compare it to their income declaration, and if it doesn’t add up, develop a case and prosecute,” Motaylo said.
A group of international experts, including Wohlwend, will deliver a Sept. 30 report on the effectiveness of the fight against corruption in Ukraine’s government branches, the president said, after which he will officially estimate the results of the ministries’ anticorruption work.
