Ukraine - Corruption you can’t imagine

[JayH]

For those new to the story-this relates to a corrupt government that led to the Maidan uprising and the implementation of reforms in Ukraine.

The investigation of the paper trail is ongoing.More hard evidence of blatant corruption is becoming available all the time.These documents show a direct link to the deposed Yanukovych.

The Ukrainska Pravda news site on May 31 published spreadsheets according to which ex-President Viktor Yanukovych’s Party of Regions paid more than $66 million in bribes to officials, politicians and public relations specialists in June to December 2012.


Document leak exposes Party of Regions bribes worth $66 million, specifies names

The leak is part of a massive package of documents recently submitted by Viktor Trepak, an ex-deputy head of the Security Service of Ukraine, to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau.

The documents show that the Party of Regions paid about $2 billion in cash in bribes during the terms of several presidents, prime ministers and parliaments, Trepak said in a May 28 interview.

http://www.kyivpost.com/article/content/ukraine-politics/document-leak-exposes-party-of-regions-bribes-worth-66-million-specifies-names-415094.html

[JayH]

Another article with more detail


Rotten To The Core: Documents show $2 billion bribe network, moral bankruptcy

$2 billion in bribes

The scandal came to light when Viktor Trepak, an ex-deputy head of the Security Service of Ukraine, sent to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau 841 Party of Regions accounting documents from 2008 to 2012. The documents show that the party paid bribes and under-the-table handouts worth $2 billion, Trepak said in a May 28 interview.

http://www.kyivpost.com/article/content/ukraine-politics/rotten-to-the-core-documents-show-2-billion-bribe-network-moral-bankruptcy-415342.html

[Chicagoguy]

I have not seen that the U.S. has sent any $$ to help Ukraine. Just lip service. They know the history.

My wife's sister and Ukrainian husband live in Kiev. 1 flat, 1 house, 1 dacha, nice car. All western modern. When I finally asked family what he did for a living nobody could give me an answer. So now I do know.

My wife won't even visit Ukraine. Had to go there for work many times and has low opinion of many of the people. Doesn't really keep in contact with an aunt and cousins there. Doesn't trust them.

I have good friends who moved here from Odessa and I remember asking them if there was corruption there. About 1993 and this was all new to me. They both smiled and help up index finger and said "Number 1 ". And they both had sad smiles on their face.

[Boethius]

Russia is about the same, in terms of corruption, as is Ukraine.   But neither are number 1.

[JayH]

There were high hopes in Ukraine in the days after the EuroMaidan Revolution that the cronies of ousted President Viktor Yanukovych, suspected of looting billions of dollars from the country, would face justice.

Blanket Impunity  ??

Almost none of the pilfered money has been returned, leading some to suspect that President Petro Poroshenko made a deal with the vanquished regime, much the same way that people still suspect that ex-President Viktor Yushchenko blocked investigations into the alleged financial crimes and murders implicating his predecessor, Leonid Kuchma.

http://www.kyivpost.com/article/content/ukraine-politics/blanket-impunity-415942.html

[JayH]

Disturbing story in itself-it illustrates why internal reform in Ukraine is crucial to creating a future.The reformers have been frustrated-not in every case-but in far to many.
To me- it is now a reason for Ukraine to examine how every oligarchs wealth was achieved-- and consider confiscation.It needs to be brutal to get anywhere.
Maybe then the tiny minority will see what is really in their own best interests- ie a free independent democratic Ukraine which is corruption free.

Ukraine’s corruption sullies ties with West

The next elections to the Bundestag will take place in about a year. Ukraine has joined the list of issues of the election, forcing Europeans to increasingly wonder why they must sacrifice economic interests when Kyiv proves incapable of meeting expectations. Why should taxpayers in Baden-Württemberg be forced to provide financial support to the incompetent Ukrainian government, which isn’t ready to fight corruption and collect its due from its oligarchs?

http://www.kyivpost.com/article/opinion/op-ed/leshchenko-ukraines-corruption-sullies-ties-with-west-417527.html

[JayH]

A case that highlights how difficult asset recovery actually is-even when the fight gets to court.

“I’d be disappointed if the United States granted him asylum,” said Daria Kaleniuk, executive director of the Anticorruption Action Center in Kiev. “It’s quite cynical of him to apply for U.S. asylum at the same time he is fighting the U.S. for $250 million that the U.S. has frozen and is trying to repatriate to the Ukraine government.”


http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/07/business/international/a-ukrainian-kleptocrat-wants-his-money-and-us-asylum.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0