Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna
Part of UK in Ukraine
4th January 2012
Could Ukraine win the anti-corruption league?
Back in 2009 I wrote a blog entitled “How to win the anti-corruption league”. In that blog I lamented the fact that Ukraine now stood at place 146 out of 180 countries in the Corruption Perceptions Index published by Transparency International. I noted how corruption reduced inward investment, and how helpful it would be if Ukraine could become the kind of country where the proverbial international investor sitting in a Cafe in Shanghai would say “Hey! I’ve heard Ukraine welcomes investors; the rule of law is good; and the court system is independent and incorruptible. Let’s invest there!” I also noted in 2009 that the authorities had announced lots of anti-corruption measures; but it remained to be seen whether anything actually happened (or, to use a fine English expression, “the proof of the pudding is in the eating”).
After the poor 2009 performance, Ukraine’s position improved in 2010 to place 134. So I was disappointed to see that in the 2011 survey, published recently, Ukraine had slid to place 152 out of 183 countries. Here’s the full 2011 list.
Does this matter? I’ve seen one or two clever analyses pointing out that the Transparency International index only shows corruption perceptions, rather than corruption. This is true; and reflects the fact that corruption is by its nature hard to measure. Nonetheless, like many respected indices of this type, the Transparency International index offers a way of appraising progress in countries’ efforts to fight corruption; and makes broad comparisons possible. To put it another way: would most people rather live in New Zealand, Denmark, Finland and Sweden (places 1-4); or in Somalia, North Korea, Myanmar and Afghanistan (places 180-182)?
I noted in 2009 that the Ukrainian authorities had just set up an “Independent Anti-Corruption Bureau” and hoped that by 2010 I would be able to point to its effective operation. No luck. While the current authorities have again announced new anti-corruption measures, I cannot yet report that the impact of these measures on day-to-day life has been dramatic. So I was interested to observe a recent discussion between two top Ukrainian business people about whether the authorities could, if they wished, make more rapid and dramatic progress against corruption. One said progress would take years: corruption was too deep-rooted for Ukraine to tackle swiftly. The other said that if it was a top priority for senior politicians both to be seen as incorruptible and to root out corruption all around them, rapid progress could, in fact, be made. What do you think?
Not in our lifetime I’m afraid as this current regime are as corrupt as they come. Any moves or announcements they make concerning anti-corruption issues are nothing more than futile ‘window dressing’ in a disillusioned effort to impress the EU. Why would they turn their backs on a corrupt system that continues to serve them exceptionally well, for corruption has enabled Yanokovich to come to power. Without it surely such a person would never have been allowed to pursue a political career.
My thinking is there are vast amounts of stolen money pooring out of Ukraine, mostly stashed away into offshore accounts. So It’s rather obvious that something’s got to give sooner or later as the substantially increased expenditure on this growing and emerging police state together with the huge bribery payments that are required to prop up this regime must be taking a financial toll on resources. Ukraine’s inefficient and corrupt tax revenue system surely can’t be adequete enough to feed these growing demand on Ukraine’s finances and the probability is that Ukraine’s will soon defaults on their IMF payments. Then Putin will undoubtedly make his move on Ukraine and pick up the pieces.