Why is Ukraine fighting corruption amidst the war? Post-War Reconstruction in view + others

Greetings to my esteemed friends on the Deepdives platform and the entire hive blockchain. It's another day and time to share with you happenings around Ukraine, most especially the issues of fighting corruption and other anti-graft issues. Stay tuned! It's your friend @faquan saying hello from this part of the world.

Source

Corruption is a cancer that steals from the poor, eats away at governance and moral fibre and destroy trust - Robert Zoellick

One of the amazing agendas in the Ukrainian President Zelenskiy's administration is to fight corruption to the bearest minimum. This has been commended by several governments and peoples all over the world. I see this as the right step towards the right direction and the right tool if Ukraine wants to recover quickly immediately after the war.

For the past few years now, the Zelenskiy's administration have prosecuted and probed several heads of various sectors of the Ukrainian economy to ensure that the finances allocated to those sectors were managed properly and accounted for.

Most of the results of these probings and investigations shows that billions of dollars have been stolen by people manning these sectors.

For instance, National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) detectives, in cooperation with SAPO prosecutors, uncovered a scheme of overpriced sales of coke-chemical fuel at the State Enterprise "Ukrspyrt". According to the investigation, in 2017-2020, Ukrspyrt announced tenders for the procurement of coke-chemical fuel, in which pre-selected private companies were declared winners. These companies supplied over 20,000 tons of fuel at prices higher than the market average. To create an illusion of transparency in the auctions, several fake participants were involved.

On May 23, 2023, NABU and SAPO caught two persons red-handed receiving more than half a million hryvnias in undue advantage. On May 24, both were served with charges under Part 4 Art. 27 Part 3 Art. 369 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

One of the largest amount ever documented by the Ukraine law enforcement officers is the €21 million and $5.5 million paid to the former head of the State Fiscal Service. This is huge and alarming when you look at the military budget of Ukraine. I'm even surprised if these corrupt officials want Ukraine to go bankrupt during the war period and become more bankrupt and incapacitated after the war.

Last month, Oleksandr Omelchenko, a prosecutor at the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO), said the Supreme Court's top judge had been detained as part of a suspected bribery scheme and was awaiting a formal "notice of suspicion".

NABU had announced on Monday that anti-corruption agencies were investigating large-scale corruption in the Supreme Court system, and shared a photograph of piles of dollars neatly lined up on a sofa.

In a statement, NABU said the Supreme Court head was suspected of taking a $2.7-million bribe. The agency's chief, Semen Kryvonos, told Tuesday's briefing it was the most high-profile case involving Ukrainian agencies fighting corruption.

Why is Ukraine Fighting Corruption Amidst the War?

There are two major reasons for this constant anti-corruption fight, although all of them will lead to the betterment of the entire Ukraine both in terms of infrastructural development and stability of the Ukrainian economy. The reasons are as follows:

1. It has been a constant effort for Ukraine to join the European Union and one of the criteria for this move is anti-corruption purge. Most top people manning the Ukrainian economy are corrupt and this has brought bad image to the society at large. Fighting corruption at this point gives them a better chances of becoming a member of the European Union. Remember that this will open more doors for the Ukrainian economy.
2. Post war reconstruction is paramount for Ukraine and one of the ways to help save some huge finances is through retrieval of money stolen by corrupt officials in Ukraine. According to Semen Kryvonos, systematic and efficient fight against corruption is crucial for Ukraine's post-war reconstruction. It has been estimated that the cost of reconstructing Ukraine after the war will be more $1 trillion dollars. Although it'll be more than that.

Conclusion: It's believed that reducing corruption in the society increases its prosperity and development. The fight against corruption by the Zelenskiy's administration amidst the war in Ukraine makes him a vision driven leader and this gives Ukraine hope and a future.

• https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/head-ukraines-supreme-court-detained-anti-corruption-prosecutor-2023-05-16/