Prime
Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk informed about the
achievements of the Government in combating corruption at a briefing following
the meeting with U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker on Monday,
October 26.
Answering
a question, the Prime Minister stressed that "the most rampant corruption
that existed in the energy sector was gas corruption": "This
corruption does not exist anymore. I deem it to be an outstanding achievement. There was a lot of talk
but a poor result, yet we have yielded results. We have no intermediaries
now, we have only direct agreements with Europe, we have the direct
agreement with Russia. And due to the direct and transparent agreements,
there are no kickbacks in the gas sector in the energy company Naftogaz."
The
Government also managed to "break off the 20-year story when the whole
privatization was exclusively in the hands of the Ukrainian oligarchs."
Arseniy Yatsenyuk reminded
that he made the decision which forbids the sale of 5% of Odesa port-side
plant until changes to be made in the law on privatization and order of the
state property assessment, "Because I know that this 5% would be purchased
not by a foreign investor, but by one of the
Ukrainian oligarchs. And then there will no foreign investors."
Much
has been done in terms of deregulation, the Prime Minister noted: "The
less permits, the less agencies carrying out checks, the less corruption."
In
order to solve the problem of domestic corruption, Arseniy Yatsenyuk emphasised,
"The Government has done a lot through open data, open registers and the
creation of administrative services centers."
At
the same time, the Prime Minister pointed out that corruption in Ukraine
remained in the State Fiscal Service, customs and those bodies that still have
excessive powers.
He
noted that he would like to make clear that "the Government has no right
and opportunity either under the law or without the law to give any orders
neither to the Prosecutor’s Office nor the Anti-Corruption Bureau, nor the
courts that are completely independent."
"Their
job is to implement anti-corruption legislation and put in jail. It is not the
Government's task. The task of the Government is deregulation, as well as
adoption of appropriate decisions. This is for which I am personally
responsible. The Government should carry out a fair and transparent
privatization, improve the management in public companies, while the
Prosecutor’s Office and Anti-Corruption Bureau must bring to justice those
guilty of corruption crimes," he stressed.
To
that end, Arseniy Yatsenyuk highlighted, the Government found
funding for the National Anti-Corruption Bureau. "We appreciate the contribution of the U.S. Government, which
conducted training of anti-corruption detectives," he added.
Arseniy Yatsenyuk expressed
hope that in the near future it would be elected, nominated and appointed an
anti-corruption prosecutor, "that is a key prerequisite for the
implementation of anti-corruption law."
Another
important issue is reforming of the Prosecutor’s Office. Arseniy Yatsenyuk stressed the need of creating a new State
Investigation Bureau. The Government has already submitted a relevant bill
to the Parliament and it has already passed the first reading. This bill,
the Prime Minister stressed, "clearly indicates that we deprive the
Prosecutor’s Office of a range of responsibilities": "Today, the
Prosecutor's Office is a huge monster that controls everything in the country,
from an investigator to an investigation. It is wrong. We believe
that the Parliament should support the creation of the State Bureau of
Investigation in the second reading."
Arseniy Yatsenyuk emphasized
that the Parliament should also back a radical judicial reform proposed by the
Government: "We believe that you need to replace all 9,000 judges in an
appropriate way, within the law. The judiciary is
at the heart of corruption. The rule of law is the foundation of every
democratic state, while the rule of law is based on an independent and fair
judicial system."
The
Prime Minister also stressed the need to increase payments to public officials:
"If a civil servant, for example at the customs, gets a hundred dollars
per a month, he/she will take bribes." Arseniy Yatsenyuk said that he had appealed to European partners
to "create a donor fund for salaries for civil servants who can actually
carry out reforms in the country."
"This
is our agenda of combating corruption," Arseniy Yatsenyuk pointed
out.
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