Ukraine’s parallel war on corruption to unlock door to West

Reuters :
To an outsider, it may seem an unlikely time for Ukraine to double down on the battle against corruption, as missiles rain down on cities and citizens fight for their lives.
Nonetheless, anti-graft agencies have revived a years-old investigation into an official scheme they say led to electricity customers overpaying by more than $1 billion, plus a case that stalled in 2020 into the alleged theft of over $350 million in assets and funds from a state-controlled oil company.
They’ve launched new actions too, including this month the arrest in absentia of an ex-state bank boss over his suspected role in the embezzlement of $5 million. He denies wrongdoing.
“Every week, there are one or two big developments plus seven or eight smaller ones that are still important,” said legal expert Vadym Valko, who monitors the work of anti-corruption authorities in Ukraine, which is fighting to rid itself of oligarchs and strengthen its vulnerable institutions.
The activity reflects a parallel war Kyiv is waging against high-level graft, according to Reuters interviews with half a dozen Ukrainian anti-corruption monitors and officials. The drive is deemed urgent enough for the government to devote resources to, even during Russia’s invasion. Indeed, anti-corruption agencies flag their work almost daily in a flurry of statements and social media posts. In November alone, they reported having launched investigations into 44 new criminal cases, issued 17 notices of suspicion to people being investigated and sent six indictments to court.
In 2022, prosecutors have filed at least 109 indictments in 42 cases, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) told Reuters, adding that 25 convictions had been handed down.
The work can’t wait, according to the people interviewed, because curbing endemic corruption is key to reassuring Western partners preparing to send tens of billions of dollars of aid that will be needed to rebuild the country in coming years. It would also be crucial, they say, to winning a status that guarantees Ukraine’s long-term security from any future aggression: membership of the European Union, which says getting on top of graft is a must for candidacy talks to begin.
“It’s extraordinarily important right now for Ukraine to demonstrate itself as a predictable partner,” said Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, first deputy head of the parliamentary committee on anti-corruption policy, referring to Western donors.
“In reality there are two wars going on in Ukraine at once: an open one with Russia, and another with the post-Soviet corrupt past that’s happening within.”
The anti-corruption drive is backed by President Volodymyr Zelensky, who vowed this month that Ukraine would fight both high-level corruption and Russia’s invasion at the same time.
“The story of reform continues,” the actor turned wartime leader, who was elected in 2019 on pledges to clean up Ukraine, said in his nightly address.
“It continues even during this kind of war.”
Anti-corruption efforts, which continued after the Feb 24 invasion, were stepped up over the summer under a new director of SAPO, according to the experts and officials.