The World – Corruption Concerns Involving Ukraine

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Corruption concerns involving Ukraine are revived as the war with Russia drags on

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s dismissal of senior officials is casting an inconvenient light on an issue that the Biden administration has largely ignored since the outbreak of war with Russia: Ukraine’s history of rampant corruption and shaky governance.

As it presses ahead with providing tens of billions of dollars in military, economic and direct financial support aid to Ukraine and encourages its allies to do the same, the Biden administration is now once again grappling with longstanding worries about Ukraine’s suitability as a recipient of massive infusions of American aid.

Those issues, which date back decades and were not an insignificant part of former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment, had been largely pushed to the back burner in the immediate run-up to Russia’s invasion and during the first months of the conflict as the U.S. and its partners rallied to Ukraine’s defense.

But Zelenskyy’s weekend firings of his top prosecutor, intelligence chief and other senior officials have resurfaced those concerns and may have inadvertently given fresh attention to allegations of high-level corruption in Kyiv made by one outspoken U.S. lawmaker.

U.S. officials are quick to say that Zelenskyy is well within his right to appoint whomever he wants to senior positions, including the prosecutor general, and remove anyone who he sees as collaborating with Russia.

Yet even as Russian troops were massing near the Ukrainian border last fall, the Biden administration was pushing Zelenskyy to do more to act on corruption — a perennial U.S. demand going back to Ukraine’s early days of independence.

“In all of our relationships, and including in this relationship, we invest not in personalities; we invest in institutions, and, of course, President Zelenskyy has spoken to his rationale for making these personnel shifts,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters on Monday.

Price declined to comment further on Zelenskyy’s reasoning for the dismissals or address the specifics but said there was no question that Russia has been trying to interfere in Ukraine.

“Moscow has long sought to subvert, to destabilize the Ukrainian government,” Price said. “Ever since Ukraine chose the path of democracy and a Western orientation this has been something that Moscow has sought to subvert.”

Still, in October and then again in December 2021, as the U.S. and others were warning of the increasing potential for a Russian invasion, the Biden administration was calling out Zelenskyy’s government for inaction on corruption that had little or nothing to do with Russia.

“The EU and the US are greatly disappointed by unexplained and unjustifiable delays in the selection of the Head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor Office, a crucial body in the fight against high-level corruption,” the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv said on Oct. 9.

“We urge the selection commission to resume its work without further delays. Failure to move forward in the selection process undermines the work of anti-corruption agencies, established by Ukraine and its international partners,” it said. That special prosecutor was finally chosen in late December but was never actually appointed to the position. Although there are indications the appointment will happen soon, the dismissal of the prosecutor general could complicate the matter.

The administration and high-profile lawmakers have avoided public criticism of Ukraine since Russia invaded in February. The U.S. has ramped up the weapons and intelligence it’s providing to Ukraine despite early concerns about Russia’s penetration of the Ukrainian government and existing concerns about corruption.

A Ukrainian-born congresswoman who came to prominence early in the war recently broke that unofficial silence.

Rep. Victoria Spartz, a first-term Republican from Indiana, has made half a dozen visits to Ukraine since the war began. And she was invited to the White House in May and received a pen used by President Joe Biden to sign an aid package for Ukraine even after she angrily criticized Biden for not doing more to help.

But in recent weeks, Spartz has accused Zelenskyy of “playing politics” and alleged his top aide Andriy Yermak had sabotaged Ukraine’s defense against Russia.

She’s also repeatedly called on Ukraine to name the anti-corruption prosecutor, blaming Yermak for the delay.

Ukrainian officials have hit back. A statement from Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry accused Spartz of spreading “Russian propaganda” and warned her to “stop trying to earn extra political capital on baseless speculation.”

U.S. officials gave Spartz a two-hour classified briefing on Friday in hopes of addressing her concerns and encouraging her to limit her public criticism. She declined to discuss the briefing afterward but told The Associated Press that “healthy dialogue and deliberation is good for Congress.”

“We’re not here to please people,” she said. “It’s good to deliberate.”

Hours later, Spartz gave a Ukrainian-language interview broadcast on YouTube in which she called again for the appointment of an independent prosecutor.

“This issue should be resolved as soon as possible,” she said in the interview. “This is a huge problem for the West, so I think your president should address this issue soon.”

Rep. Jason Crow, a Colorado Democrat who sits on the House Armed Services and Intelligence committees, said he had seen no evidence to support allegations that Zelenskyy’s inner circle was trying to help Russia. But as the war continues, part of the long-term American strategy in Ukraine will have to include addressing waste and mismanagement of resources, he said.

“There is no war in the history of the world that is immune from corruption and people trying to take advantage of it,” Crow said. “If there are concerns raised, we will address them.”

Igor Novikov, a Kyiv-based former adviser to Zelenskyy, called many of Spartz’s claims a mix of “hearsay and urban legends and myths.” Allegations against Yermak in particular have circulated for years going back to his interactions with Trump allies who sought derogatory information against Biden’s son Hunter.

“Given that we’re in a state of war, we need to give President Zelenskyy and his team the benefit of the doubt,” Novikov said. “Until we win this war, we have to trust the president who stayed and fought with the people.” – Associated Press via NPR

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Pandora Papers: Ukraine leader seeks to justify offshore accounts

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office has sought to justify his use of offshore companies as protecting him against pro-Russian forces, following leaked revelations in the Pandora Papers.

A former comedian, Zelenskyy was elected president in 2019 on promises to fight corruption and reduce the influence of oligarchs in the ex-Soviet country.

But the files obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and published on Sunday claimed that Zelenskyy and his partners established a network of offshore companies back in 2012.

The Pandora Papers are based on documents leaked to the ICIJ and exposed the offshore dealings of kings, presidents and prime ministers, including Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta.

According to its findings, two of the offshore companies belonging to Zelenskyy’s partners were used to buy three lavish properties in central London.

The report also found that Zelenskyy, just before he was elected, transferred his stake in one of the offshore companies to his top aide Serhiy Shefir – the target of a shooting attack last month.

An adviser to Zelenskyy’s chief of staff said on Monday that the president had created the offshore companies to “protect” the group’s incomes against the “aggressive actions” of the “corrupt” government of then pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych.

“Journalists have de facto confirmed the president’s absolute respect for the standards of anti-corruption legislation,” Mykhailo Podoliak told the AFP news agency.

Podoliak, however, did not comment on the details of other revelations from the investigation, which said that the president’s wife has continued to receive dividends from an offshore company.

Supporters of another ex-president, Petro Poroshenko – a billionaire defeated by Zelenskyy in 2019 and who also appeared in an earlier investigation into offshore companies – accused Zelenskyy of tax evasion.

“He and his accomplices took funds offshore without paying any taxes to the Ukrainian budget,” Iryna Gerashchenko, a lawmaker from Poroshenko’s faction, wrote on Facebook.

Before becoming president, Zelenskyy played a history teacher in a comedy series who was elected president after denouncing endemic corruption.

In his election campaign, he cultivated an image of a leader seeking to “break the system” and promised a fierce fight against corruption in one of Europe’s poorest countries.

The Pandora Papers are the latest in a series of mass ICIJ leaks of financial documents, from LuxLeaks in 2014, to the 2016 Panama Papers, which triggered the resignation of the prime minister of Iceland and paved the way for the forced resignation of the leader of Pakistan.

They were followed by the Paradise Papers in 2017 and FinCen files in 2020. – aljazeera.com

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Sooo, Nazis and extremely corrupt.  Great. Sounds just like the kind of country that we should be sending our tax dollars.

Does anyone know what is happening to the billions of dollars in aid and military weapons that western countries are sending to Ukraine?  Anyone keeping track?

I would think that would be something that leaders such as Canada’s first black-faced PM would want to know.  Maybe they don’t care, but we should. After all, its OUR money that Turdeau is giving Ukraine. Our weapons that we are giving them.

Then there is this:

What Everyday Corruption Looks Like In Ukraine

and then there is Ukraine’s stand on LGBT+ rights and racism?

Why is Turdeau supporting a corrupt, racist, Nazi loving, LGBT+hating country?  That is a good question.

 

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