High ranking Ukrainian officials make no secret of the existence of corruption in our country. Prosecutor-General Oleksandr Medvedko stated recently: “I don’t know of any state agency that is free of corruption. Unfortunately, corruption also exists in prosecutor’s offices.”
He says, however, that the prosecutor’s office does not conceal such facts and is not trying to save its esprit de corps. Not so long ago, Serhii Holovaty, the then justice minister, said that bribery and corruption are inalienable elements of Ukrainian culture. Interestingly, people at the top of the political Olympus often refer to corruption as an “ineradicable phenomenon,” “a chronic disease of the bureaucracy and population,” etc. Be that as it may, Ukraine’s head of state recently took the first step toward combating corruption in all echelons of power on a legislative basis. President Yushchenko is convinced that ratification of anti-corruption laws will improve Ukraine’s image. Experts, in turn, believe that the struggle against corruption is like a fighting against a shadow.
In order to implement his anti-corruption political strategy, President Yushchenko signed an ukase on the Concept of the Struggle against Corruption in Ukraine, entitled “On the Road to Virtue,” and submitted a package of bills to parliament, aimed at the implementation of international commitments in Ukraine’s anti-corruption sphere.
The head of state also submitted the bills “On the Ratification of the United Nations Convention against Corruption,” “On the Ratification of the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption,” and “On the Ratification of the Additional Protocol to the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption.” President Yushchenko believes that the ratification of these legal instruments will help establish Ukraine’s positive image as a country struggling to create a favorable climate for broad, mutually advantageous cooperation with all countries, particularly in terms of combating corruption and other related offences.
The draft laws submitted by the president — “On the Principles of Prevention of and Counteraction to Corruption” and “On Changes to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Concerning the Responsibility of Unlawful Acts of Corruption” are aimed at implementing the above-mentioned documents. They clarify the concept of corruption, acts of corruption, and other related offences, spell out procedures of anti-corruption examination of normative acts, public participation in anti-corruption efforts, and establish procedures for the transfer of property in the possession of persons holding political posts and members of their families. The bills also forbid public officials to accept presents, and officials must declare their incomes and expenses.
The draft law of Ukraine “On the Responsibility of Legal Entities for Unlawful Acts of Corruption” proposes to establish such responsibility and determine the procedure of criminal prosecution. The bill proposes prosecuting individuals for offering or giving bribes to officials holding posts in the central government or local self-governments, or bribing people who are not public officials but are discharging authoritative functions under the law. These offences correspond to the relevant components of crime that have been proposed for inclusion in the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
President Yushchenko believes that after these laws are adopted by parliament, they must serve as the basis for implementing the anti-corruption policy at all levels of power. There will probably not be any problems with voting on these bills. Any faction that votes against an anti-corruption bill will surprise its voters, at the very least. Moreover, various political forces agreed to support the president’s legislative initiative during the signing of the Universal on National Unity (Clause 11).
However, experts believe that eradicating corruption must start at the top, in parliament, where the largest bribes in Ukraine are being exchanged, according to various studies.
COMMENTARY
Kostiantyn BONDARENKO, political scientist:
First of all, it should be pointed out that in terms of corruption Ukraine doesn’t look any worse than neighboring countries, especially those in Eastern Europe, like Poland, where political corruption is very developed; this is common knowledge.
But I don’t think it would be an overstatement to say that in Ukraine corruption has penetrated all social spheres. It has penetrated the government and the opposition. The price of an MP’s vote during voting for a prime minister reaches one million dollars. The price of unblocking the parliamentary podium has increased to 100 million. I won’t mention specific political forces; this doesn’t matter because all political forces are equally corrupt.
What are the corruption trends in Ukraine? Obviously, the amount of bribes is increasing, everyone is becoming corrupt — even those who weren’t before — so they won’t look like oddballs. I spoke to a parliamentarian recently, and he told me that he recently lobbied for a bill, helped a certain person get appointed as factory manager, and so on. I asked him, “How much did you get paid for this, if it’s no secret?” He showed me two and then three fingers, meaning 2,000 dollars in one instance and 3,000 for the other. I said, ‘They ought to put you in jail for dumping practices because you undercut your price not 10 times but 100!”
Such “reasonable” MPs can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Of course, combating corruption makes sense. It is seriously damaging not just our country’s prestige but also its competitiveness, worsening its position in the world economy. I am not sure that the current Ukrainian leadership will actively struggle against this phenomenon. I believe that there is more hope in civic organizations, in a civil society that is gradually forming here. The inactivity of politicians offers the leaders of a civil society a good chance of winning the electorate’s confidence by utilizing anti-corruption slogans, cleaning the Augean stables, exposing those who were recently beating their breasts, swearing love for the people and posing for billboard photos.
THE DAY’S REFERENCE
Corruption means destruction of integrity, causing one to be dishonest, disloyal, and immoral. According to UN norms and partially a report on the international struggle against this evil, corruption is defined as “an abuse of public authority for the purpose of acquiring personal gain.” This concept includes bribery (i.e., a sum or gift given to an official in order to alter his actions in the discharge of a public or legal duty); nepotism (assigning relatives or friends important or advantageous posts), and unlawful appropriation of public funds for private use.
Experts from the Council of Europe have worked out a tougher legal mechanism that includes in the definition of corruption the receipt of commission fees from state contracts and divulging confidential information concerning changes to state policy, or lobbying for certain decisions in return for “consideration.”
This phenomenon has existed and thrived practically under every political regime. In Ukraine, it has become a “national feature” of local communication with public officials. Ukraine ranks among the world’s most corrupt countries. Transparency International places it 85 th on its list of 102 countries, on a par with Georgia and Vietnam.
As ex-President Leonid Kuchma once declared, a so-called special corrupt way of thinking is germane to Ukrainians. Recent polls indicate that 28.4 percent of Ukrainians believe that paying bureaucrats for discharging their official duty is not a bribe but a normal reward for a favor; 65.2 percent are convinced that people who do not receive bribes are simply not in a position to do so. According to the Ukrainian Institute of Social Studies (UISS) and the Social Monitoring Center, 44 percent of Ukrainians have given presents or bribes to public officials at least once.
A month ago the United States gave Ukraine 45 million dollars to combat corruption. This grant was confirmed by the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) which specializing in assisting developing countries.
MCC officials have said Ukraine’s problems with corruption are interfering with its full-fledged participation in MCC programs.
At the same time, it was noted that Ukraine is undertaking to wage a decisive struggle against corruption and work to attract international investments
* * *
On May 20, 2000, information on the entrepreneurial activities of parliamentarians was revealed during a meeting of the Coordinating Committee against Corruption and Organized Crime under the President of Ukraine (Kuchma). According to the State Tax Administration, 364 MPs were receiving official incomes from commercial entities. Parliamentarians headed 202 enterprises and were co-founders of 473 businesses. All told, they were directly or indirectly involved in 3,105 businesses. In 1999 these enterprises imported into Ukraine 13.2 billion hryvnias’ worth of raw materials and consumer goods (25.3 percent of all Ukrainian imports) and exported 5.2 billion hryvnias’ worth of goods (10.1 percent of all Ukrainian exports). According to the results of economic performance for 1999, these enterprises failed to pay 4.1 billion hryvnias in income tax.
Despite the fact that some of the above-mentioned facts were carried by the media, and were an admission of corruption among top-level politicians, they did not cause much of a stir in society.
Such scandals have happened and are likely to happen even under the Orange government. Yet none of the facts pointing to corruption in the upper echelons of power have sparked public protests or legal actions.
In conclusion, it should be pointed out that the effectiveness of the struggle against corruption depends primarily on the political leadership’s attitude, its moral and, of course, its legal probity. Political will, however, is the decisive factor in combating corruption. A manifestation of firm political will means that, in the presence of legal grounds, any person can be brought to justice, regardless of his position, political views, or contacts in high places. In the absence of political will, even the most perfect anti-corruption legislation will remain declarative, with law enforcement agencies merely going through the motions of fighting corruption.
