Opendatabot: almost three times fewer corrupt officials were punished in 2023
Kyiv • UNN
In 2023, 2,420 people were entered into the Register of Corrupt Officials in Ukraine, which is almost three times less than in 2021, with the largest number of cases registered in Lviv and Kyiv regions.
In 2023, 2,400 people were added to the Register of Corrupt Officials, which is almost three times less than in 2021. According to Opendatabot, most corruption cases were registered in Lviv and Kyiv regions, UNN reports .
Details
It is noted that last year, 2,420 people were added to the Register of Corrupt Officials, which is 65% less than in pre-war 2021, when the register was replenished with almost 7,000 entries. Over the past three years, Lviv region has issued the largest number of verdicts. Since the start of the great war, the number of corruption cases has also decreased: from 537 in 2021 to 192 last year.
In 2021, the majority of cases in the Register were related to violations of declarations, accounting for 75.9% of all verdicts, while in 2023 such cases decreased to 1.6%. This change is due to the suspension of verification of declarations by NACP officials and the abolition of the obligation to file declarations since the beginning of the war.
In 2022-2023, the main reason for entering persons into the Register of Corrupt Officials was the offer or promise of an undue benefit for actions or inaction in government, accounting for 38.2% and 53.1% of cases, respectively. In most cases, 92% of those convicted receive fines. Imprisonment, community service or suspended sentences account for 5-8% of the total number of sentences.
The register also includes cases of life imprisonment for corruption. One of these cases concerns a man who already had a life sentence and offered a bribe of UAH 2,000 to a prison official for permission to receive a Vodafone modem. This new corrupt act resulted in an addition to his sentence, and he was entered in the Register of Corrupt Officials as a life prisoner.
Unfortunately, the Register of Corrupt Officials is still not an indicator of the fight against corruption in Ukraine. Nor can selective punishment be a solution to the problem of corruption instead of building transparent systems. Life sentences for corruption reflect the quality of the registry's data and the quality of the NACP's work,
Recall
Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin announced that in 2023, seven officials of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine were notified of suspicion of corruption, and one case was referred to the High Anti-Corruption Court. The crimes included the procurement of low-quality bulletproof vests and personal protective equipment, as well as embezzlement.
