Corruption scandals continue to shake Ukraine. Now President Zelenskyj wants to call on parliament to introduce stricter penalties for corruption. For the duration of the war it is to be equated with treason.
The regulation should only apply as long as the state of war prevails in Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyj explained in an interview. It is an important important tool to fight corruption.
“Nobody should even think about taking bribes in times of war. We don’t shoot the culprits, that’s not Stalinism,” said the president. “But if there is evidence, then the culprit should go behind bars. Victory in war is important, and it will come. But defeating the internal enemy, corruption, is also important.”
The sentence would increase significantly, to at least ten years imprisonment. A life sentence is also possible for treason. In addition, the secret service SBU should investigate corruption cases in the future, according to Zelenskyj’s presidential office. Zelenskyy said his proposal would be discussed in parliament next week.
allegations against Secretary of Defense
The president’s initiative comes against the background of various corruption allegations from the past few months. Just yesterday, at a press conference, Defense Minister Oleksiy Resnikov denied the report by an Internet newspaper that unsuitable winter jackets had been bought for soldiers last year by a company linked to a member of parliament.
Resnikov explained that Ukraine had to buy jackets for the mobilized soldiers in a hurry. “At the time we approached everyone who could supply us with winter clothing, we needed 1,180,000 jackets. Those were difficult times when we didn’t check the suppliers to ensure they were following all the compliance rules. But the fact is that we have received fully functional winter jackets from the company in question.”
layoffs in district military replacement offices
In this case, independent anti-corruption activists consider the ministry’s account to be credible. In January, however, a deputy defense minister had to resign because food for soldiers had been bought at high prices. And Selenskyj recently announced that he would be dismissing the heads of all district military replacement offices. Many of them are said to have taken bribes to exempt individual men from military service.
In July, an alleged scandal involving front-line medical care became public. Around 40,000 soldiers’ first-aid kits are said to contain inferior so-called tourniquets, which can be used to tie off injured limbs. Medical assistants deployed at the front provided information about this.
Could citizen councils help?
Corruption is a problem that shouldn’t only be fought with higher penalties, says Anastasia Schuba, who has been supporting the army as a volunteer for nine years. That is why she is a member of a citizens’ council for combating corruption in the Ministry of Defence. “We accompany measures that are intended to fight corruption. We also follow allegations of corruption from society. And we approach the minister or the responsible official and say where there are corruption risks and how they should be eliminated.”
She hopes that other ministries will also introduce such citizen councils, says Schuba. However, the Citizens’ Council in the Ministry of Defense has not yet been able to control the purchase of armaments, she admits.