{"id":111803,"date":"2017-03-07T11:07:15","date_gmt":"2017-03-07T11:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ucmc.org.ua\/?p=1059"},"modified":"2024-01-30T08:36:46","modified_gmt":"2024-01-30T06:36:46","slug":"time-kyiv-anti-corruption-agenda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/time-kyiv-anti-corruption-agenda","title":{"rendered":"Time for Kyiv to Own Anti-Corruption Agenda"},"content":{"rendered":"

02 February 2016<\/p>\n

Author<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yulia Andrusiv<\/a><\/p>\n

Academy Associate<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s record on fighting corruption offers a mixed picture at best. Failure to seize the anti-corruption agenda threatens the political survival of the government and the stability of the country.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Petro
Petro Poroshenko stands during a welcoming ceremony on 22 April 2015 at the H\u00f4tel des Invalides in Paris. Photo by Getty Images.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Serhiy Leshchenko, a former investigative journalist and Ukrainian MP has published\u00a0the results of an investigation<\/a>\u00a0into the wealth of\u00a0Serhiy Lyovochkin,\u00a0a fellow MP\u00a0and\u00a0a former\u00a0head of administration for the country\u2019s last president, Viktor Yanukovych. It alleges that this long-term public official\u2019s assets include a \u20ac49 million villa\u00a0on the French Riviera and multiple business interests, none of which have been officially declared.<\/p>\n

This is one of many\u00a0investigations into corruption and embezzlement of public finances by state officials in Ukraine that have appeared in the media in\u00a0recent years. Yet despite this,\u00a0most continue to live lavish lifestyles way beyond their declared incomes. Although some criminal cases have been opened against\u00a0former top officials, practically none resulted in trials or recovery of embezzled funds.<\/p>\n

A political issue<\/strong><\/p>\n

The government\u2019s failure to prosecute such\u00a0cases is a source of frustration\u00a0for a public\u00a0asked to bear the brunt of the economic reform, the devaluation of the currency, and the war with Russia. Ridding the country of corruption was a key demand of the Maidan protestors in early 2014 and has resonated in society ever since;\u00a094.4 per cent of Ukrainians identify corruption(opens in new window)<\/a>\u00a0as among the top three serious issues for Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Civil society anti-corruption\u00a0initiatives\u00a0have emerged on everything from action to prevent bribery by customs service officials to\u00a0programmes educating pre-school children on why corruption is bad. Anti-corruption events\u00a0draw large crowds. The Anti-corruption Forum\u00a0organized by former Georgian president, now governor of Odessa, Mikheil Saakashvili, brought 6,200 participants to Kyiv with five days\u2019 notice.<\/p>\n

Practically all political parties use anti-corruption as a rallying point. Even the Opposition Bloc party which provides political shelter to Lyovochkin and other former government officials of questionable reputation speaks regularly about the high levels of corruption.<\/p>\n

Progress on anti-corruption reform is supervised by the National Reform Council, which brings together representatives from government, civil society and international organizations. The council’s online tracking system shows the status of overall reform, rather optimistically, to be 59 per cent complete (but behind schedule). This is in contrast to a recent public perception survey in which 84 per cent of respondents saw no progress in reform.<\/p>\n

Among the milestones reached is the\u00a0adoption of laws setting up anti-corruption institutions and the\u00a0launch of the National Anti-corruption Bureau. Initial steps have been taken to set up the Anti-corruption\u00a0Prosecutor’s\u00a0Office and the\u00a0National Agency for Prevention of Corruption. There are significant improvements in the public access to property registers and public procurement data, and a further law\u00a0is expected to enforce transparency of party donations.<\/p>\n

Questions of will<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite the government committing to anti-corruption reform milestones, reaching them has come primarily as a result of significant pressure on the government by the West and the Ukrainian civil society. This raises the question of whether the government has sufficient will to go through with the reform.<\/p>\n

Among the most contentious roles is that of the general prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, a close associate of President Petro Poroshenko, who refused to fire Shokin despite calls to do so by civil society and the international community. Shokin appears to be behind repeated attempts to\u00a0prevent the appointment of\u00a0independent anti-corruption enforcers, squashing the renewal of the general prosecutor’s office and stifling investigations against corrupt former state officials.<\/p>\n

Parliament has contributed to undermining anti-corruption\u00a0efforts too. By the time the law on criminal and corrupt asset recovery agency passed through parliament, it had been significantly watered down. And a last-minute\u00a0amendment to the budget law\u00a0put at risk the 2016 launch of an e-filing system for income declarations of state officials.<\/p>\n

No alternative to reform<\/strong><\/p>\n

Aside from the economic hardships, failure to meet society’s expectations over anti-corruption is a key factor in the plummeting approval ratings for the president and prime minister. This raises questions for the political future of the country. As in much of eastern Europe, the political pendulum in Ukraine has historically swung between liberal and illiberal spectrums, and if the current government fails to deliver, the illiberal forces may regain ground in the country.<\/p>\n

It is doubtful that the most active part of Ukrainian society \u2212 citizens who have risked their lives to\u00a0topple\u00a0the Yanukovych regime and defended against Russian aggression \u2013 would accept such an outcome. Nor are they likely to look the other way if the government attempts to interfere with open elections. In a society where the war has erased the taboo over violence, both scenarios could be destructive, unless the political elites show a renewed commitment to the anti-corruption agenda.<\/p>\n

See more at: https:\/\/www.chathamhouse.org\/expert\/comment\/time-kyiv-own-anti-corruption-agenda#sthash.JNziAqBy.dpuf<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

02 February 2016 Author Yulia Andrusiv Academy Associate The government\u2019s record on fighting corruption offers a mixed picture at best. Failure to seize the anti-corruption agenda threatens the political survival of the government and the stability of the country. Serhiy Leshchenko, a former investigative journalist and Ukrainian MP has published\u00a0the results of an investigation\u00a0into the […] More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":6600,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[699,611],"tags":[],"section":[743],"form":[801],"yoast_head":"\nTime for Kyiv to Own Anti-Corruption Agenda | UACRISIS.ORG<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"02 February 2016 Author Yulia Andrusiv Academy Associate The government\u2019s record on fighting corruption offers a mixed picture at best. Failure to seize | Uacrisis.org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/time-kyiv-anti-corruption-agenda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Time for Kyiv to Own Anti-Corruption Agenda | UACRISIS.ORG\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"02 February 2016 Author Yulia Andrusiv Academy Associate The government\u2019s record on fighting corruption offers a mixed picture at best. Failure to seize | Uacrisis.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/time-kyiv-anti-corruption-agenda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uacrisis.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uacrisis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-03-07T11:07:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-30T06:36:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@uacrisis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@uacrisis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\u0417\u0430\u0445\u0430\u0440 \u0411\u0443\u0442\u043a\u043e\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Time for Kyiv to Own Anti-Corruption Agenda | UACRISIS.ORG","description":"02 February 2016 Author Yulia Andrusiv Academy Associate The government\u2019s record on fighting corruption offers a mixed picture at best. Failure to seize | Uacrisis.org","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/time-kyiv-anti-corruption-agenda","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Time for Kyiv to Own Anti-Corruption Agenda | UACRISIS.ORG","og_description":"02 February 2016 Author Yulia Andrusiv Academy Associate The government\u2019s record on fighting corruption offers a mixed picture at best. Failure to seize | Uacrisis.org","og_url":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/time-kyiv-anti-corruption-agenda","og_site_name":"Uacrisis.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uacrisis\/","article_published_time":"2017-03-07T11:07:15+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-01-30T06:36:46+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@uacrisis","twitter_site":"@uacrisis","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"\u0417\u0430\u0445\u0430\u0440 \u0411\u0443\u0442\u043a\u043e","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#organization","name":"Ukraine crisis media center","url":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uacrisis\/","http:\/\/youtube.com\/UACrisisMediaCenter","https:\/\/twitter.com\/uacrisis"],"logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#logo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/header_logo-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/header_logo-1.png","width":250,"height":90,"caption":"Ukraine crisis media center"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#logo"}},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/","name":"Uacrisis.org","description":"Ukraine crisis media center","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/time-kyiv-anti-corruption-agenda#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"","contentUrl":""},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/time-kyiv-anti-corruption-agenda#webpage","url":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/time-kyiv-anti-corruption-agenda","name":"Time for Kyiv to Own Anti-Corruption Agenda | UACRISIS.ORG","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/time-kyiv-anti-corruption-agenda#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2017-03-07T11:07:15+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-30T06:36:46+00:00","description":"02 February 2016 Author Yulia Andrusiv Academy Associate The government\u2019s record on fighting corruption offers a mixed picture at best. Failure to seize | Uacrisis.org","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/time-kyiv-anti-corruption-agenda#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/time-kyiv-anti-corruption-agenda"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/time-kyiv-anti-corruption-agenda#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u0413\u043b\u0430\u0432\u043d\u0430\u044f \u0441\u0442\u0440\u0430\u043d\u0438\u0446\u0430","item":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Time for Kyiv to Own Anti-Corruption Agenda"}]},{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/time-kyiv-anti-corruption-agenda#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/time-kyiv-anti-corruption-agenda#webpage"},"author":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/31691010a01129c86dc9dc11eebe8df9"},"headline":"Time for Kyiv to Own Anti-Corruption Agenda","datePublished":"2017-03-07T11:07:15+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-30T06:36:46+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/time-kyiv-anti-corruption-agenda#webpage"},"wordCount":843,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/time-kyiv-anti-corruption-agenda#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","articleSection":["Politics","Security"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/time-kyiv-anti-corruption-agenda#respond"]}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/31691010a01129c86dc9dc11eebe8df9","name":"\u0417\u0430\u0445\u0430\u0440 \u0411\u0443\u0442\u043a\u043e"}]}},"wps_subtitle":"","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111803"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111803"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":280613,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111803\/revisions\/280613"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111803"},{"taxonomy":"section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/section?post=111803"},{"taxonomy":"form","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/form?post=111803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}