Ukraine corruption – one step forward two steps back
This seems to be the way corruption is in Ukraine, which was reported by the Kyiv Independent Kyiv Independent . This time it was “[t]he director and deputy director of the logistics department of the National Guard are also suspected of embezzlement and money laundering, ZN.UA reported.” They are suspected of embezzling $4.8 million USD from National Guard funds, purchasing an armored vehicle at inflated prices. The good news is that there is enough monitoring and review, that brings such cases to light. The bad news is that this continues to occur, especially by very senior government officials. These cases are reflective of an impunity during a time when it should be very clear to these government officials that every dollar they steal from the government can be seen as taking money away from a soldier in the field possibly leading to his or her death. This is not overblown in the present Ukrainian context and yet, there is a constant drumbeat of senior government officials acting corruptly.
What should be done? Unfortunately, there is an even greater need to emphasize the impact of corruption. It is great that there are functional anti-corruption bodies, but the costs of prosecuting corruption would also be better served by working in preventing corruption. Obviously there are many CSOs in Ukraine which provide corruption oversight and bring governmental corruption to the surface, but at the end of the day, there is a disconnect between corruption and the personal cost to the corrupt. There needs to be greater deterrents as well as greater education regarding the personal cost of corruption as well as greater support for whistleblowing. Additionally, there also needs to a recognition that the cost of being corrupt can lead with complete certainty to imprisonment, hopefully for a very long time, and that this needs to be publicized very broadly. Education, deterrence, clear enforcement are the important features of successful anti-corruption processes.
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