The public initiative "Stop-Parasite" (Grant Watch Ukraine) has described the 10 most common methods of embezzling international aid by professional "civic activists." This was reported by Volodymyr Boiko, a veteran of the Russian-Ukrainian war and journalist, according to UNN.
"The public initiative 'Stop-Parasite' (Grant Watch Ukraine) has summarized the practice of embezzling international aid and described the 10 most characteristic methods used by fraudsters who call themselves 'representatives of civil society.' We are talking about tens and hundreds of millions of dollars that professional 'civic activists' put in their pockets," he wrote.
According to the veteran, first place is held by "kickbacks" received during the grant acquisition process.
"The well-known size of a 'kickback' is 20%. The 'kickback' must be paid to the Ukrainian representative office of the donor or to a corrupt employee of a foreign embassy among Ukrainian citizens (foreigners, as a rule, do not take 'kickbacks' and do not even know what their Ukrainian colleagues are doing). This is precisely why grants are issued only to 'their own people'," he reported.
Second place, according to Boiko, goes to double funding: when the same expenses are included in the financial reports of both the main project executor and the subcontractor.
"It is clear that the donor does not conduct a real audit of financial statements (that's not why they received a 'kickback') and does not notice that several executors simultaneously paid the same amount for, for example, renting a room for a 'round table'," he stated.
Third place, he emphasized, is the ordering of services whose provision is impossible to verify.
"Ordering services for improvement, enhancement, strengthening, support, etc. The authenticity of expenditures for such services cannot be verified. As a rule, financial reports on the payment for such services are submitted in the form of charts, tables, and histograms, the content of which no one understands (including those 'activists' who draw these reports)," the veteran wrote.
His list includes other methods of stealing international aid: "dead souls," where non-existent work is attributed to fake people; paying a salary to the same person from both the main grant recipient and subcontractors; "kickbacks" from subcontractors; and payment for services that were never provided.
The veteran also mentions the employment of "dear friends"—officials—and the payment of bonuses under fabricated pretexts to "tame" journalists. Another method of theft is mutual services: professional "civic activists" register several pseudo-public organizations that hire each other to perform work stipulated by grant programs, he noted.
As is known, one of the most famous recipients of international aid is Vitaliy Shabunin's Anti-Corruption Action Center (AntAC). According to veteran Volodymyr Boiko, during the years of the full-scale war, AntAC earned 188 million UAH through the embezzlement of grants. The head of the Center, Shabunin, was listed as serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine for over four years, and recently "discharged" due to deteriorating health. According to Boiko, during his fictitious service in the 207th separate Territorial Defense battalion alone, Shabunin received over 900,000 UAH in salary, additional remuneration for performing combat/special tasks, and even "combat pay."