Corruption in Ukraine

[11][12] Yanukovych was considered more pro-Russian than his predecessors, leading Ukrainian nationalists to argue that corruption was tied to their country's relationship with Russia.

[20] Ukraine has been under increased scrutiny on the issue of corruption amidst unprecedented financial aid provided to the country during the 2022 Russian invasion.

A few days earlier a deputy minister at the Ministry of Infrastructure was sacked after the anti-corruption agency detained him while he was receiving a $400,000 bribe, according to Ukrainian authorities.

[36] According to a 2008 Management Systems International (MSI) sociological survey, the highest corruption levels were found in vehicle inspection (58%), the police (54%), health care (54%), the courts (49%) and higher education (44%).

[38] According to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in 2006, the main causes of corruption in Ukraine were a compromised justice system and an over-controlling non-transparent government combined with business-political ties to Russia and a weakened civil society.

[40][41] In 2016, the IMF mission chief for Ukraine stated that the reduction of corruption was a key test for continued international support.

[42] Some western analysts believed that large foreign loans were not encouraging reform, but enabling the corrupt extraction of funds out of the country.

[58] After going undercover in the Reforms for the Future parliamentary faction in early 2012, Roman Zabzaliuk claimed this faction "bought" its members for "US$500,000 (for a 'defection' from other parliamentary groups), and then they pay a monthly salary of $20,000-25,000"; in contrast, according to Reforms for the Future, Zabzalyuk had pretended he was "suffering a very serious disease" and the group had managed to raise some $100,000 for Zabzalyuk to undergo surgery in Israel.

[60] Since 2010 the Ukrainian press brought up thousands of examples of criminal cases in which state officials, as well as politicians and businessmen linked to the then ruling Party of Regions, were shown leniency unprecedented for the general population of suspects.

[67] This measure was part of an Anti-Corruption Package passed into law in 2014, which was a requirement of international financial support for Ukraine and a prerequisite to eligibility for visa-free travel within the European Union.

[70] In the early 2010s Ukrainian politicians and analysts described the system of justice in Ukraine as "rotten to the core"[71][72] and complained about political pressure put on judges and corruption.

[76] A 2017 Reuters article quoted then-PM Volodomyr Groysman, saying that "the weakest link in our fight against corruption is the Ukrainian court"; giving an example of 30 judges "with annual salaries ranging from US$10,000-13,000" who owned Porsches.

[77] As another example, in 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 amounted to his yearly official income—at a joint Ukrainian-American event dedicated to fighting illegal drugs.

[79] In the early 2010s critics also complained that officials and their children (the latter known as "mazhory"[80]) received favourable sentences compared with common citizens.

[100] In 2015 the Ukrainian parliament passed a new law on higher education to give universities more autonomy, including control over their own finances.

[24] The Ukrainian media featured many stories revealing that even parliamentarians illegally received social benefits, fraudulently claiming to be war and Chernobyl veterans.

[24] Though medical care in state-run hospitals is theoretically free for Ukrainians, patients' paying money there to ensure they receive the treatment required was widespread in the early 21st century.

[107] The corruption, perceived as reckless, that marked President Viktor Yanukovich's rule contributed to his downfall in 2014 and left the country's army ill-equipped to counter Russia's invasion of Crimea.

Management Systems International project)[109] claimed in 2009 that "Ukrainians pay roughly ₴3.5 billion, or more than US$400 million, in bribes annually.

[111] Several officials were indeed arrested and/or questioned early 2005 (among them Borys Kolesnikov[112][113][114] and Yuri Boyko,[115][failed verification][116] later ministers in the Azarov Government).

Oleksandr Turchynov, former chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine, 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:[115][116] In a 2005 interview with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, "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'".

[116] A 2008 survey showed that 73% of people in Ukraine considered the second Tymoshenko Government's actions against corruption ineffective; comparable figures for the U.S. and the UK were 73% and 39%.

[49] 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".

[119] Like his predecessor Yushchenko,[111] President Viktor Yanukovych (and his Azarov Government[120]) made the fight against corruption a spearhead in his domestic policies.

[126] 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.

In December, it appointed Lithuanian economist and former European Commissioner for Taxation and Customs Union, Audit and Anti-Fraud Algirdas Šemeta as Business Ombudsman.

[130] In 2018, a law came into force requiring that cases concerning corruption be brought directly to the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine.

[134] In 2020, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine ruled that anti-corruption legislation, including the mandatory electronic declaration of income, was unconstitutional.

[135] President Zelensky warned that if parliament did not restore these anti-corruption laws, foreign aid, loans and a visa-free travel to the European Union were at risk.

[136][137] On 4 December 2020, the Ukrainian parliament restored anti-corruption legislation shut down by the court decision, when it reauthorised criminal penalties for officials who provide false information about their incomes.