In Ukraine, top officials are being sacked one by one for alleged corruption. Yesterday the deputy minister of infrastructure was arrested for embezzlement, the curtain also fell on the deputy minister of defense, the head of the presidential office of Zelenskyj, the deputy prosecutor and the deputy head of the political party of Zelenskyj.
On Monday, Ukraine’s Deputy Infrastructure Minister Vasyl Lozinskyi was immediately removed from his post and arrested for embezzling $400,000, according to the anti-corruption authority and the prosecutor. That money was intended for the purchase of basic necessities, including generators. After this news broke, President Zelensky promised that the old methods of corruption would not return to Ukraine.
Without return
«I want this to be clear: there will be no return to what was in the past, to the way different people lived around state institutions or those who spent their lives chasing after a chair (a state function, ed), Zelensky said in his Sunday night speech, without specifically mentioning the matter. Zelensky said he hoped the deputy minister’s resignation would send a “signal to anyone whose actions or behavior violate the principle of justice.”
Three senior officials have since resigned: Deputy Defense Minister Vyacheslav Shapovalov, Deputy Prosecutor Oleksiy Symonenko and Deputy Head of Ukraine’s Presidential Office Kyrylo Tymoshenko. Pavlo Halimon, the deputy head of Zelensky’s Servant of the People party, also had to leave the field yesterday.
As part of the purges, Zelensky barred government officials from traveling abroad on vacation or for any other unofficial reason. According to the New York Times, the president said a border crossing procedure would be developed for officials at all levels of government within days.
Reputation
Before the war, Ukraine was highly regarded when it came to corruption and corruption scandals were almost commonplace; the country was ranked 122 on the corruption list out of 180 countries in 2021, according to Transparency International. This makes Ukraine one of the most corrupt countries in the world. The EU has made anti-corruption reform one of the main conditions for Ukraine’s accession to the EU. There were far fewer known cases of corruption after the war as the media focused on the war effort.
Worry about weapons
According to The New York Times, some US officials have expressed concern not only about the risk of corruption in postwar reconstruction, but also about the possibility that US weapons supplied to Ukraine will be funneled or stolen for resale. Which is salient now that Ukraine is preparing for the Russian offensive and is in dire need of weapons. Corruption scandals do not contribute to the support of expensive supplies.
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Source: BNR
Sharon Rock is an author and journalist who writes for 24 News Globe. She has a passion for learning about different cultures and understanding the complexities of the world. With a talent for explaining complex global issues in an accessible and engaging way, Sharon has become a respected voice in the field of world news journalism.
