Corruption In Ukraine Revealed

A secret Ukrainian court ruling has been released by Al Jazeera. Revealing how the country’s ex-President Viktor Yanukovich stole billions from the country before his 2014 expulsion. Yanukovich, who is now residing in Russia, siphoned an estimated $1.5bn from Ukraine through an intricate network of more than 400 countries.

The court ruling was secretly handed down by a military court in Kramatorsk city in the country’s east. The decision revealed how dollar-denominated bonds purchases were brokered by Investment Capital Ukraine (ICU) with Cypriot companies during November and December of 2013. These companies were later traced to the ex-president Yanukovich. The military court’s decision named hundreds of companies that formed part of the “criminal enterprise” headed by Yanukovich and “Party One.” The decision was used by the Ukrainian prosecutor general to seize $1.5 billion of assets which belonged to a “shadowy network of Cypriot offshore companies” acting as a front for Yanukovich.

While the asset seizure was publicly announced, the court papers remained secret until Al Jazeera released them this week– a very controversial move. So what has been released? And what does it tell us about corruption in Ukraine? The trial revolved around Arkady Kashkin, a nominee director for companies belonging to one of Yanukovich’s associates. Kashkin, who pleaded guilty following a deal with prosecutors, was aware of the entire network of companies. Kashkin’s testimony was alarming, naming 400 companies, but what is potentially more alarming is the decision to keep the trial secret. The decision being kept “behind closed doors and without the representation of the Cypriot companies” has raised alarm for anti-corruption groups and given the Cypriot shell companies grounds to file legal challenges – meaning that the $1.5 billion might never be back in the Ukrainian economy.

Many anti-corruption organizations are applauding the decision to release the court documents. Nienke Palstra, an anti-money laundering campaigner at Global Witness told Al Jazeera that their “investigation turns the spotlight again on the thriving international network of money laundering and crime.” Palstra went on to talk about what the secret ruling really represents, arguing that “serious questions need to be asked about why the Ukrainian court ruling was made secret in the first place as well as how other countries – such as Cyprus and the UK – are apparently implicated by facilitating corrupt money flows.”

What, Palstra highlights, is the unknowable impact of the government choosing to keep the hearing a secret. Not only is the government denying the population of Ukraine the right to know who stole their money and what happened to governance in their state but they are perpetuating corruption on an international scale. Corruption is the biggest challenge that we face today as it simultaneously undermines democracy – with Transparency International determining that 68% of the world’s countries have a ‘serious corruption problem’ – and directly leads to an estimated 3.6 million deaths every year. Corruption has helped polio make a resurgence in Ukraine and led to drug-resistant tuberculosis in Asia, yet it remains unchallenged because of seemingly small decisions to keep trials behind closed doors. What Al Jazeera has done, by publicly releasing the court decision, has been another step in fighting the corruption that permeates the world we live in and is something that should be applauded.

Montana Vaisey

Related