A perspective on corruption in Ukraine. I am an academic economist, a former Ukrainian minister, and a public figure, in that order. I did a land market reform after 20 years of sabotage by vested interest. That experience helped me understand 1/
how corruption works in Ukraine and how one can fight it. Corruption is a culture problem. The culture of disregard for rules, zero respect for others, zero empathy, egoism, and belief that all other people are also corrupt, but they simple havent had the opportunity 2/
Corrupt people believe that they can bribe everyone else because everyone else is the same as they. When they meet honest people they consider them crazy or losers. When they get arrested and prosecuted, they are surprised and attribute it to some conspiracies or political 3/
enemies. They find it unfair! The Ukrainian public hate corrupt officials. This hate transpires across all areas of public life and office. The peak of the corruption happened around 2013 under the pro Russian president Yanukovich. His culture was that of a thug, 4/
the rule of the strong one rather than the rule of law or justice. That’s why people revolted and he was ousted. Russia took advantage of the situation and annexed Crimea and set up a “separatist” movement in the East of Ukraine. The Ukrainians then learned how 4/
incapable Ukrainian institutions had become under Yanukovich, with the army being unable to resist the Russian annexation and the security and police services being inept in resisting the Russians in the East. It is the Ukrainian public, the volunteers who took up arms 5/
to defend Ukraine in 2014-2016. It is them who now constitute the backbone of the Ukrainian military leadership. Today, the Ukrainian army is nothing like what it was in 2013. Today it defends Ukraine against one of the largest armies in the world - russia. 6/
And so the clean up of the corruption started in 2014. The Ukrainians realized that corruption is destroying the state and it must stop. There has been a lot of progress in some areas. The central bank has been reformed, half of the banks - about 100 - have been shut down 7/
Many of them were just fronts to steal money from the taxpayers through the fraudulent refinancing from the central bank. That was over. The state procurement has been reformed too. An electronic system has been introduced and it was heralded across the world as one of the most8/
advanced, transparent, and effective. I am proud I have participated in designing parts of it - the auction for selling assets of bankrupt banks. The patrol police has been changed from an extremely brutal and corrupt agency that instilled fear into everyone to a modern civil 9/
Service. Today, I am more afraid when I get pulled over in the US than in Ukraine. A framework of anti corruption agencies has been set up - a special court, an investigative bureau, a special prosecutor, a reporting agency. All of this has not been easy. There have 10/
been reversals, mixed results, challenges. But the trend is clear and the progress is steady. There is also a vibrant civil society and a good network of investigative journalists and a culture of whistleblowing. The competency of the anti corruption agencies and 11/
the civil society and investigative journalists has been improving. There are plenty of challenges and pockets of corruptions. First, the courts, especially at the lower level. Many judges are corrupt. The situation is improving but we have a long way to go. Corporate 12/
governance at the state owned enterprises continues to be an issue - a lot of work is ahead. Oligarchs still control many of the monopolies, so the competition authority reform needs to be done. Lobbying and political campaign donations have to be cleaned up and regulated. 13/
Media reform that balances the freedom of speech with the transparency of funding must be done too. Defense procurement (outside of weapons) is another not fully reformed area - and this is where the latest corruption scandal has happened. So, much work remains 14/
, but a lot has been done and achieved already. We must fight the culture of corruption and we must reform the way the political system is financed. But it can be done as the experience of the last 8 years shows. 15/15
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There is another scandal in Ukraine. Investigative journalists took a picture of a prominent veteran politician Yuliya Tymoshenko in a luxurious villa in Dubai. There is a public outcry. It is another example of a culture shift towards zero tolerance for corrupt politicians. 1/
The list of accusations of corruption for Tymoshenko is long. I would not know where to start. She used to work with Pavel Lazarenko in 1990s, the infamous prime minister turned thug, who was arrested by the US entering on a false passport and served a sentence in the US. 2/
Yuliya is accused of making her money through shady gas deals with russia in 1990s and 2000s. She and her party are populists. While they engage in corruption and power trading, they sell to the public fake empathy and the image of a person fighting for the rights of the people3/
In December, you responded to my tweet about children of war, orphans and refugees. You donated over 40,000 dollars for holiday presents. Here is a report on how we make these funds matter. 1/
Our students organized everything. They found organizations that host kids, negotiated details, timing, presents, activities. They really care about kids. Both kids and students were super excited 2/
It was not easy. First several attempts to organize events failed. The hosting organizations tend to quickly exclude our students from the decision making, tried to push through overheads and questionable admin costs, and wanted to deal only with the top management of 3/
Corrupt people believe that they can bribe everyone else because everyone else is the same as they. When they meet honest people they consider them crazy or losers. When they get arrested and prosecuted, they are surprised and attribute it to some conspiracies or political 3/
enemies. They find it unfair! The Ukrainian public hate corrupt officials. This hate transpires across all areas of public life and office. The peak of the corruption happened around 2013 under the pro Russian president Yanukovich. His culture was that of a thug, 4/
the rule of the strong one rather than the rule of law or justice. That’s why people revolted and he was ousted. Russia took advantage of the situation and annexed Crimea and set up a “separatist” movement in the East of Ukraine. The Ukrainians then learned how 4/
Ted Carpenter from the Cato Institute think tank described today Ukraine as a "terribly corrupt" and autocratic government. "So this is not a war between democracy and authoritarianism because neither belligerent in this war is a democracy" : said Ted. This is why he is wrong 1/
I was confronted with Ted's quote on the TIMES radio interview today. Here is his full statement, which outraged me: "Ukraine is portrayed in the west as this wonderful freedom loving democracy. It's nothing of the sort. It is a terror, terribly corrupt, increasingly 2/
autocratic government. So this is not a war between democracy and authoritarianism because neither belligerent in this war is a democracy. They're just authoritarian regimes of different stripes." 3/
Corruption in Ukraine. Part 2. I’ve written that there is a culture shift in Ukraine and that corruption is episodic while the fight against it is systemic. Here is more evidence: Today, there are three resignations. Deputy minister of defense responsible for procurement. 1/
Deputy general prosecutor. Deputy head of the office of the president. While the specific reasons for resignations are not public (yet), the deputy minister of defense was responsible for procurement and there have been accusations of inflated pricing in a procurement contract 2/
at MoD revealed by media late last week. In addition, the National Anti Corruption Bureau has released a statement that they started an investigation looking into that procurement contract. And that it was done even before the media reported on it. So it appears both channels 3/
Lviv. Downtown. Generators are everywhere. Loud. Air is polluted. But I am happy. For the shops can run during blackouts. And the Kremlin lunatics can go fcuk themselves. We will win. 1/
Yesterday we ate at a vegan bar Om Nom Nom in Lviv. Here is how they play music. The bar reminded me of my time in Berlin. Something in the atmosphere of the bar. 2/
We were served yellow and blue tea. It was not on purpose. We ordered some from the menu but then realized what the colors are 3/