Poroshenko Not Serious About Fighting Corruption, Says Leading Anticorruption Reformer

2015/11/5 16:43:11

<Photo: Bogdan Yakymiuk, head of the independent, nongovernmental organization Anti-Corruption Council of Ukraine, said President Petro Poroshenko needs to lead the fight against corruption. 

 


By Melinda Haring for New Atlanticist, Nov 4, 2015:

 

Bogdan Yakymiuk radiates optimism. But despite his quick smile, the thirty-seven-year old reformer is deadly serious when it comes to corruption.

 

“The speed of corruption in Ukraine equals 100 million Euro per hour,” Yakymiuk said in an October 27 interview in Washington.

 

Yakymiuk, head of the Anti-Corruption Council of Ukraine, an independent, nongovernmental organization, is no stranger to the fight. He works regularly with Transparency International Ukraine and other national and international partners. His organization is a member of the United Nations Global Compact and the UNCAC Coalition. He previously served as a civil servant for ten years, making his critique trenchant and relevant.

 

“Over 30 percent of our yearly budget is being stolen one way or another through corruption,” Yakymiuk said.

 

A New Era in Ukraine

 

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has promised to get to the bottom of the country's pervasive corruption problem.

 

A new struggle against [corruption] begins, Poroshenko declared on June 4, emphasizing the country's need for deregulation, privatization, and de-oligarchization.

 

And on October 21, Poroshenko said, “Finally we will be able to demonstrate decisive steps for the development of our country.” He told journalists he was talking about steps to combat corruption and reform the judiciary and the prosecutor's office.

 

Yakymiuk is not impressed.

 

After Poroshenko has been the President for a year, the situation hasn't improved, he said.

 

For complete text of the article, link here:

http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ ... g-anticorruption-reformer

 

Photo credit: Melinda Haring

 

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