The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) has found manifestations of Ukrainian corruption in 65 countries, the press service of the NABU has reported. “Ukrainian corruption is traced in 65 countries. Most often, detectives have to seek help from law enforcement officials in Latvia, Cyprus, the U.K., Germany and Switzerland. For its part, the National Bureau also tries to respond promptly to requests received from foreign colleagues: 90% of them were satisfied,” the NABU said in a statement.
The NABU sent about 500 requests for international legal assistance to the competent authorities of other states. Of these, 118 were only in the second half of 2018, of which 52 were answered. The purpose of requests is to find out the circumstances of committing corruption offenses, as a result of which the interests of Ukraine were damaged.
NABU explained the need for international communication by the fact that the majority of corruption schemes provide for the participation of companies registered abroad. Typically, these companies play the role of intermediaries which leave the lion’s share of revenues of state-owned companies. In the future, the organizers of the schemes legalize these funds and spend them for their own needs, including for financing political projects.
Examples of criminal proceedings in the NABU, the investigation of which was led by detectives abroad, are: the embezzlement of UAH 247 million at state-owned enterprise (SOE) Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority, causing a loss of $60.5 million to PJSC State Food and Grain Corporation. The NABU and Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) estimated that, due to corruption involving foreign contractors, the state interests were damaged in the amount of about UAH 7 billion.
Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine Hugues Mingarelli has recalled the importance of continuing the fight against corruption to attract foreign investment in Ukraine. If we want to create the necessary jobs, we need an economic growth of 5-6%. You need to attract foreign investors for this … To do this, you need to achieve more progress in the fight against corruption and the rule of law, he said during a round table talk titled “Ukraine’s European Choice after the Revolution of Dignity: Opportunities and Problems” in Kyiv.
The European diplomat stressed the need to establish an Anti-Corruption Court in accordance with the recommendations of the Venice Commission.
We know that much has already been done and still needs to be done in the sphere of the rule of law. And we are currently discussing with the Ukrainian authorities the creation of an Anticorruption Court as soon as possible, which would correspond to the recommendations of the Venice Commission, the diplomat added.
Mingarelli also noted the need to harmonize the Ukrainian legislation with the European one.
According to him, the EU considers the law on the land market as important for realizing the potential of the Ukrainian agricultural sector.
