On the second
anniversary of when former Ukraine's President Viktor #Yanukovych fled his
country, Transparency International called on Ukrainian authorities to fully
investigate the former president's corruption-related crimes, to bring him to
justice and to begin efforts to ensure the return of billions of euros of
stolen assets.
The global anti-corruption
group and its chapters in Ukraine, Russia and the United Kingdom also called on
the European Union to maintain the current sanctions imposed on Yanukovych and
his closest allies that are scheduled to run out in March.
The voting public in Transparency
International's recent global Unmask the Corrupt contest ranked Yanukovych's
case as one of the most symbolic cases of grand corruption.
"Since Yanukovych escaped
to Russia, little has been done in Ukraine to investigate the serious and
numerous allegations of grand corruption against him and his cronies,"
said Andriy Marusov, Chairman of the Board of TI-Ukraine.
"Instead courts have
released Yanukovych's allies who were part of his criminal enterprise and they
have unfrozen their bank accounts and assets, while the Ukrainian Interpol
regional office deleted Yanukovych and members of his family from the wanted
list."
The Russian Federation has
played a role in keeping Yanukovych free by failing to extradite him back to
Ukraine. They cited the current political situation and said he cannot be
returned to Ukraine because they have given him Russian citizenship.
However, the United Nations
Convention against Corruption, signed and ratified by Russia in 2003, clearly
lays out the obligation for all signatories to accept materials from law
enforcement bodies of other countries. Following UNCAC, the Russian Federation
should prosecute Yanukovych under the Russian legislation. That is why
Transparency International calls on the Russian authorities to cooperate with
the Ukrainian authorities and punish Yanukovych, regardless of his citizenship.
Transparency International
also called on the EU to renew and strengthen current political and economic
sanctions against Yanukovych's old team. More specifically EU countries should
not allow the disgraced politicians who were deeply involved in Yanukovych
corrupt enterprise to cross their borders. Their businesses should not get EU
contracts and in effect they should be boycotted.
Transparency International
also supports the Ukrainian Media Guard campaign, which is asking advertisers
(business, government, and private) to boycott media (Ukrainian media companies
of Ukrainian Media Holding; TV-channels 112, and Tonis) belonging to
business-partners of Yanukovych (Serhiy Kurchenko, Vitaliy Zakharchenko, Serhiy
Arbuzov).
"Since the departure of
Mr. Yanukovych, the United Kingdom has been implicated in laundering the assets
of a number of close associates who propped up his corrupt regime. The UK
authorities need to be vigilant in the hunt for stolen assets and unexplained
wealth, and this needs active support from their counterparts in Ukraine.
At
the same time, we need systemic reform in the UK, for example relating to
property ownership and the UK's Overseas Territories, to make sure this does
not happen again. Prime Minister David Cameron has rightly stated that the UK
should not be a safe haven for dirty cash and the coming International
Anti-Corruption Summit, that the UK is hosting, is an opportunity to start this
process. Two years have passed, but we should not allow Yanukovych and his
cronies to get away with it. TI-UK supports the Ukrainian chapter of TI
and calls on the UK authorities to act," said Robert Barrington, Executive
Director of Transparency International UK.
Transparency International
Russia will also support TI Ukraine in revealing Yanukovych's assets in Russia.
"We suspect that his villa in the Mezhyhiriia village close to Kyiv is
just the tip of the iceberg. We intend to find the remaining pieces of his
enterprise in Russia and we will do everything possible to make sure that
neither Moscow, nor the Rostov region serve as the refuge for former dictators
like Yanukovych," says Anton Pominov, General Director of TI Russia.
The case of Yanukovych must
not be forgotten. Two years ago a hundred people were killed during the Maidan
protest. In memory of these people, who fought for freedom and to clean Ukraine
of its corruption clans, the crimes of the former president must be
investigated and he must be brought to justice.
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