Corruption

Insufficient anti-corruption effort in Ukraine likely to jeopardise disbursement of financial assistance from Western donors

On 24 November 2016, the 18th European Union (EU)-Ukraine summit will be held in Brussels. The high-profile meeting will focus on discussing the implementation of Minsk II ceasefire agreement in Donbass; and on the reform programme and the anti-corruption effort in Ukraine.

Just ahead of the summit, on 21 November, the head of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (Natsionalne Agentstvo z Pytan Zapobihannya Koruptsii, NAZK) Nataliya Korchak admitted that the country's efforts in tackling corruption remained limited, even after the publication of electronic income declarations by over 100,000 officials of various ranks.

E-declarations reveal large wealth of officials

The e-declaration system was launched in mid-August in Ukraine by the NAZK as a prerequisite for the disbursement of the third tranche of the loan from the IMF at the value of USD1 billion (which was disbursed in September 2016). The EU stipulated that the system be in place as a requirement for a visa-free agreement with the bloc. Starting from 1 September 2016, all top public officials, including politicians, civil servants, judges and prosecutors, had two months to file a declaration form revealing their own and their families' income, properties, and assets in the previous 12 months. In total, around 100,000 officials submitted their electronic declarations for the year 2015.