| Political corruption |
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| Concepts |
| Corruption by country |
United States diplomats have described Ukraine under Presidents Kuchma and Yushchenko as a kleptocracy, according to Wikileaks cables.[6]
Overview
Bribes are given to ensure that public services are delivered either in time or at all.[7] Ukrainians stated they give bribes because they think it is customary and expected.[7][8] Some of the biggest bribes involve more than 1 billion US$.[9] According to a 2008 Management Systems International (MSI) sociological survey, the highest corruption levels were found in vehicle inspection (57.5%), the police (54.2%), health care (54%), the courts (49%) and higher education (43.6%).[10] On June 8, 2011 Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych stated that corruption costs the state budget US$2.5 billion in revenues annually and that through corrupt dealings in public procurement 10% to 15% (US$7.4 billion) of the state budget "ends up in the pockets of officials".[11]According to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the main causes of corruption in Ukraine are a weak justice system and an over-controlling non-transparent government combined with business-political ties and a weak civil society.[12] Corruption is regularly discussed in the Ukrainian media.[13][14]
Individual involvement in corruption
In the late 2000s and early 2010s, around 67% of Ukrainians who had dealt with government said that they had been directly involved in corrupt transactions.[7][15] In a survey in 2010, 30–49.9% of respondents admitted paying a bribe to a service provider during the past year;[16] in a similar survey in 2007, 18–32% of respondents admitted paying a bribe.[16] A comparable figure for Great Britain for 2011 was 1.9%.[17] However, in a different survey in late 2008, only 21% responded that they or anyone living in their household had paid a bribe in any form in the previous 12 months; comparable figures for the U.S. and UK were 2% and 3% respectively.[18] In a GfK survey held in the summer of 2001 43% stated they never personally had given bribes.[8]Political corruption
See also: Politics of Ukraine
In the years after Ukrainian independence, election fraud was widespread, mainly through the use of "administrative resources".[19] Outright vote rigging diminished after the 2004 presidential election. After this election, the Supreme Court of Ukraine
ruled that due to the scale of the electoral fraud, it became
impossible to establish the election results and ordered a revote.[20][21]
Although politicians still claim(ed) election fraud and administrative
tricks to get more votes for a particular party have not vanished.[22] The Ukrainian electorate remains highly skeptical about the honesty of the election process.[23] Any voter who engages in election fraud faces a maximum sentence of two years in jail.[citation needed]United States diplomats have claimed the privatization of several Ukrainian state enterprises were rigged in favor of political friends.[6] On a regional level, corruption has been discovered in connection with land allocation.[24]
Ukrainian politicians have regularly accused each other of corruption while claiming to fight it themselves.[25] After briefly being a member of the parliamentary faction Reforms for the Future in early 2012 Roman Zabzalyuk claimed this faction "bought" its members for "US$500,000 for a transfer [to the parliamentary group], and then they pay a monthly salary of $20,000-25,000"; according to Reforms for the Future Zabzalyuk had claimed he was "suffering a very serious disease" and the group had raised some $100,000 for Zabzalyuk to undergo surgery in Israel.[26]
Since July 1, 2011, the President, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, Prime Minister, Prosecutor General, ministers and other Ukrainian top officials have been liable for prosecution for corruption.[27] Kost Bondarenko (chairman of the board of the Institute of Ukrainian Politics), claims that before 2010, there was an unwritten rule in Ukrainian politics, "No charges were brought against members of the outgoing government, and their successors never had to worry about what tomorrow might bring";[28] but in 2010 and 2011, "criminal charges were brought against 78 members of the former government; and more than 500 criminal cases have been opened against sitting officials."[28]
Minister of Internal Affairs Vitaliy Zakharchenko stated in March 2012 that since 2010 about 400 politicians had faced criminal charges in connection with corruption; most of them from the Party of Regions, followed by Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko and Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc members.[29]
Ukrainian media regularly claim to have unveiled the "millionaire lifestyle" of Ukrainian politicians.[30]
Local politics
Several Ukrainian mayors have been suspected of using their posts to serve their own business interests.[31]Juridical corruption
"There could even be cases of the revocation of investment, because legal uncertainty is very deep, and the actions of regional authorities are willful."
Critics have also complained that officials and their children (the latter ones are known as "mazhory"[40]) receive favourable sentences compared with common citizens.[41][42]
Andriy Klyuev, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine has called corruption in the courts "one of the main threats to national security" and claims that it weakens the effectiveness of state power and local government.[39] At the same time, Klyuev himself has been repeatedly exposed by the journalists as a shadowy oligarch[43] with business links to the President's family, allegedly using his power to secure multi-billion contracts.[44][45][46]
On May 22, 2012 Volodymyr Rokytskyi, Deputy Head of Ukraine's Security Service, was photographed in public wearing a US$32,000 luxury wristwatch despite the fact that its price amounts to his yearly official income. The instance happened at a joint Ukrainian-American event dedicated to fighting illegal drugs.[47]
Corruption in higher education
Higher education in Ukraine is plagued with bribery. 33% of all students claim they have encountered corruption in their school, 29% heard about cases of corruption from other students, while 38% have not encountered corruption.[48] According to Transparency International research done in 2008, 47.3% of university students stated that a bribe had been demanded from them; of those, 29% had paid this bribe freely.[10] Students can "buy" a college entry, exam results, marking doctoral and/or master’s theses.[10] Bribes range from US$10 to US$50 for an exam pass to several thousand for entry to a university.[10] According to government sources, bribes vary from US$80 to US$21,500.[10] Salaries of teachers and professors are low in Ukraine compared with other professions; this may cause them to be tempted to demand bribes.[10]Officials have been caught with fake university diplomas.[49]
Corruption and business
Companies encounter corruption mainly in business licensing, taxation and customs.[50] The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has stated corruption is a "significant obstacle" to doing business in Ukraine.[51]Research conducted by Ernst & Young in 2011 and 2012 showed that the practice of top managers accepting bribes increased by 9 percent in 2011 and 15 percent in 2012.[5] Another 4 percent were ready to pay bribes in order to hide the details of their financial performance.[5]
Politician Natalia Korolevska has estimated that "Corruption has forced business to go in the shadow where now we have 45% of our economy”.[52]
The representative of one United Kingdom-based company has claimed non-Ukrainian companies often lose contracts if they will not pay bribes or fail to "out-bribe" their competitors.[39] Ukrainians and business representatives have claimed "Business ventures above a certain level require palm-greasing of some functionary at some level".[39]
Corruption in the social security system
In 2012 President Viktor Yanukovych reported that only about 23 percent of social service funds go to those who actually need it.[5] The Ukrainian media have featured many stories revealing that even parliamentarians illegally receive social benefits, fraudulently claiming to be war and Chornobyl veterans.[5]Corruption in healthcare
Though medical care in state-run hospitals is theoretically free for Ukrainians, patient's paying money there to ensure they receive the treatment required is widespread.[53][54]In June 2012 advocacy groups accused Health Ministry officials of embezzling money that should be used to treat AIDS patients by buying AIDS drugs at hugely inflated prices and then receiving kickbacks.[55]
Cost to society
Transparency International estimates that 30 to 50 percent of all Ukrainians have faced government corruption.[10] Juhani Grossmann (working for an a.o. Management Systems International project)[56] claimed in 2009 that that "Ukrainians pay roughly ₴3.5 billion, or more than US$400 million, in bribes annually."[14] The previous year, he claimed that the figure was US$700 million.[57]Government actions
"Corruption has become an immediate threat to the constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens."
After his election in late 2004 President Viktor Yushchenko promised a "War on Corruption".[62] Several officials were indeed arrested and/or questioned early 2005 (among them later ministers in the Azarov Government Borys Kolesnikov[63][64][65] and Yuri Boyko[66][67]). Former Security Service of Ukraine Chairman Oleksandr Turchynov claimed that in the summer of 2005 Yushchenko prevented an investigation into allegedly fraudulent practices in the transport of Turkmen natural gas to Ukraine and prevented the arrest of Boyko for abuse of office while heading Naftogaz:[66][67] "Turchynov stated that Yushchenko told him in mid-August to stop 'persecuting my men' and that the investigation of RosUkrEnergo was 'creating a conflict with Russian President Vladimir Putin'".[67] A survey conducted in November 2008 showed that 73% of people in Ukraine considered the second Tymoshenko Government's actions against corruption to be ineffective; comparable figures for the U.S. and the UK were 73% and 39%.[18] In a survey in 2001, when Kuchma was President, 80% of Ukrainians "totally/fairly agreed" with the statement: "The present government has no real interest in punishing corruption".[8]
Ukraine joined the Group of States Against Corruption in 2006.[68]
Just like his predecessor Yushchenko,[62] President Viktor Yanukovych (and his Azarov Government[69]) made the fight against corruption a spearhead in his domestic policies.[61][70][71] Political opponents of Yanukovych have accused him of using his anti-corruption campaign for politically motivated trails; the general public in Ukraine largely shares this view.[72][73][39][74] President Yanukovych has denied this.[71] Kost Bondarenko, chairman of the board of the Institute of Ukrainian Politics, claims the main sponsors of President Yanukovych's Party of Regions are unhappy that some Ukrainian politicians have been criminally charged "because they no longer feel above the law".[28] The International Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities spoke in April 2011 of "remarkable successes in fighting corruption in 2010".[75] The EU Ambassador to Ukraine, Jose Manuel Pinto Teixeira, stated at an investment conference on February 28, 2012 that Yanukovych's pledges of reform "have regrettably produced no such results."[39]
Corruption perceptions
Corruption Perceptions Index ratings
Transparency International produces an annual report listing each country's Corruption Perceptions Index score. This "score relates to perceptions of the degree of corruption as seen by business people and country analysts, and ranges between 10 (highly clean) and 0 (highly corrupt)."[76] In the 2010 report, the least corrupt country listed was Denmark with a score of 9.3, and the most corrupt of the 178 countries listed was Somalia with a score of 1.1.[77] The following table lists Ukraine's place in the Corruption Perceptions Index table, based on Transparency International's annual reports from 1999 onward. The methods used in assessing the Index change from year to year, so comparisons between years are difficult.| Year | Ranking | Corruption Perception Index Score | Confidence Range[78] | Standard Deviation | Surveys Used[79] | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 69 of 85 | 2.8 | 1.6 | 6 | [80] | |
| 1999 | 75 of 99 | 2.6 | 1.4 | 10 | [81] | |
| 2001 | 83 of 91 | 2.1 | 1.1 | 6 | [82] | |
| 2002 | 85 of 102 | 2.4 | 0.7 | 6 | [83] | |
| 2003 | 106 of 133 | 2.3 | 0.6 | 10 | [84] | |
| 2004 | 122 of 146 | 2.2 | 2.0–2.4 | 10 | [85] | |
| 2005 | 107 of 158 | 2.6 | 2.4–2.8 | 8 | [86] | |
| 2006 | 99 of 163 | 2.8 | 2.5–3.0 | 6 | [76][87] | |
| 2007 | 118 of 179 | 2.7 | 2.4–3.0 | 7 | [4][88] | |
| 2008 | 134 of 180 | 2.5 | 2.0–2.8 | 8 | [89][90] | |
| 2009 | 146 of 180 | 2.2 | 2.0–2.6 | 8 | [91][92] | |
| 2010 | 134 of 178 | 2.4 | 2.1–2.6 | 8 | [77][93] | |
| 2011 | 152 of 183 | 2.3 | 2.1–2.5 | 10 | [94][95] | |
| 2012 | 144 of 176 | 2.6 | 2.4–2.4 | 8 | [3][96] |
Public Perception of Corruption in Institutions of Ukraine
The following table shows average scores from a survey of public perception of corruption in Ukraine's institutions. Comparable figures for the United Kingdom and the United States for 2009 are shown at the bottom of the table.| Year | Political Parties | Parliament | Police | Business/ Private Sector | Media | Public Officials/ Civil Servants | Judiciary | NGOs | Religious Bodies | Military | Education System | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 4.1 | 4.1 | 4.1 | 3.9 | 3.2 | – | 4.2 | 3.2 | 2.3 | 3.1 | 3.8 | [16] |
| 2009 | 4.4 | 4.5 | – | 4.3 | 3.8 | 4.5 | 4.5 | – | – | – | – | [16][97] |
| 2010 | 4.0 | 4.1 | 4.3 | 3.7 | 3.2 | 4.1 | 4.4 | 3.2 | 2.3 | 3.5 | 4.0 | [16] |
| 2009 UK | 3.6 | 3.3 | – | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.2 | 2.8 | – | – | – | – | [97] |
| 2009 USA | 4.0 | 3.9 | – | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.2 | – | – | – | – | [97] |
| Question: To what extent do you perceive the following institutions in this country to be affected by corruption? (1: not at all corrupt, 5: extremely corrupt). | [16] | |||||||||||
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