The war did not cure Ukraine of corruption: what are the favorite schemes of corrupt officials in power and what prevents them from fighting

After the outbreak of a full-scale war, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that in Ukraine now "there will be no corruption", At least because "many corrupt officials left with their money". But the National Anti-Corruption Bureau claims that even in such a difficult situation for the country, top officials “did not grow a conscience”, and as for the system as a whole, unfortunately, it does not change. About it in an interview ZN.UA said the head of the main division of NABU detectives Andrey Kaluzhinskiy.

"Trends, unfortunately, have not changed much. There are budget funds that someone always tries to embezzle, put illegally in their pocket. There are people who take bribes. As they say, nothing new. But now it all looks extremely cynical ... When one steal money while others sacrifice their lives", says the detective.

First of all, this situation is due to the fact that there are more or less influential players in every region of Ukraineincluding those affecting local authorities. And the leader of this dubious rating, according to Kaluzhinskiy, is the Odessa region.

"Detectives received information about the illegal influence of certain individuals on the entire city and regional authorities about a year and a half ago. This influence was used to personally enrich these individuals in a criminal way. Detectives began to develop and received evidence that, in our opinion, confirms that these individuals actually influenced the adoption of all decisions of local authorities and actively used this influence. I probably agree with you - each of the regions has its own more or less influential players, but information that someone is as much as in Odessa, " monopolized "local power, we do not have"- said the head of the main division of NABU detectives.

Law enforcement officers note special ingenuity of Ukrainian corrupt officials in local authorities and talk about the presence a range of schemes, the most common of which relate to real estate and communal property:

• Real estate of a small area is redeemed, for example, and huge land masses are taken out of communal property for this real estate.
• Companies are given the right to build liquid communal property plots for next to nothing for the territorial community, but a criminal organization can receive millions of dollars for such services. That is, developers generally pay the market price for the right to build, but not to local governments.
• Commercial enterprises sign various contracts with some utilities and actually receive all the income from their property. And the territorial bulk is left with nothing. And this is at best. More often - with losses and debts. In the future, such property, also often at a lower cost, is alienated in favor of certain people.
• Privatization of real estate or property complexes of enterprises at a reduced cost.
• Deliveries of goods or services to the state at inflated prices through various "shim" companies.
• Cases with medical equipment.
• Overestimation of the volume of work performed. Sometimes there is a purchase on paper of non-existent things that are not supplied to the state.

One of the main problems that NABU detectives face in their work, according to Andrei Kaluzhinskiy, is system building in general and level of tolerance for corruption, which is still quite high for society, elites and authorities.

“People who are accused of corruption in Ukraine remain completely shaking hands. They are promoted, they are interviewed by the media, they are invited to public events. district departments of the State Fiscal Service in the city of Kyiv. Sergei Novachuk, who in July 2016 was caught on a bribe. - I.V.). But during the time that this case was being investigated and heard in court, he first went on a promotion - in the status of acting, he began to lead the investigation of the State Fiscal Service of the entire city of Kyiv, and then, as far as I know, even worked in the main investigative department. I don't think things like this should ever happen." - said Kaluzhinsky.

The detective believes that it is impossible to eradicate corruption in power by punitive methods alone, there must also be political will and the inevitability of punishment.

"We can pinpoint corruption in one area or another, but this must be followed by administrative, organizational and political decisions. The system must be rebuilt, since the process of catching bribe-takers, unfortunately, will not lead to the complete eradication of bribery," - says Kaluzhinsky.

In addition, according to him, there are problems with personnel. For example now only 220 NABU detectives work throughout the country, who are both investigators and operatives at the same time.

“Currently, there are 241 detectives on the staffing table in the main unit. There are still ten vacancies. More than ten detectives have been mobilized in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other paramilitary formations. That is, in total, about 220 detectives are currently working throughout the country. Each of the detectives is simultaneously an investigative and an operative worker. That is, each of them must identify crimes, investigate them, draw up indictments, etc. In each of the territorial departments of the NABU in Kharkov, Odessa and Lvov, there are only 14-16 detectives. Compare this with other law enforcement agencies , where the staff of investigators has thousands of people", - states the head of the main division of NABU detectives.

Earlier, we talked about the fact that a skirmish broke out in Ukraine between the head of the Lviv OVA Maxim Kozitsky and head of the tax committee Daniil Getmantsev, in particular, officials accused each other of corrupt appointments.

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