Since Ukraine became independent, the country’s criminal gangs and corrupt political elite have viewed the nation as a vast, laxly protected bank that can be periodically looted without fear of being caught.
To underline their contempt for their own country, these robbers stash their stolen cash overseas, in the form of luxury real estate, in countries where there is the protection of ownership through the rule of law — something Ukraine still lacks.
For instance, according to an investigation by the BBC program Panorama aired recently, an Odesa-based criminal gang, one of the members of which is alleged to have been Odesa’s current mayor, Gennady Trukhanov, plowed tens of millions of pounds into the London real estate market.
Of course, the UK should take a share of the blame for making it absurdly easy for criminals to launder money in this way, and of course the UK should do much more to tackle the problem.
But the argument that foreigners are equally to blame for corruption in Ukraine, while tempting for Ukrainians to make, is a false one. If the UK were to be entirely closed to corrupt Ukrainians as a money-laundering haven, they would simply take their ill-gotten gains elsewhere.
Ultimately, the problem of corruption in Ukraine is homegrown — no foreigners forced Ukraine’s criminal gangs, oligarchs and corrupt officials to steal from their own nation — and more has to be done here to tackle the problem.
With presidential and parliamentary elections coming up next year, ordinary Ukrainians can play their part. The question of what this or that candidate has done to combat corruption should be foremost in voters’ minds when they go to the polls.
