Corruption 2002 from Transparency International

Transparency International organization exposed the results of another opinion poll. According to the poll, Ukraine takes one of the top position on the list of most corrupted countries. Ukraine is on the 85th position of the total number of 102. The lower the position, the higher the corruption level. Ukraine shares its place with the former Soviet republic of Georgia and also with Vietnam. The index of corruption is those countries makes up 2.4. Speaking of the CIS, Ukraine is in the top four of most corrupted countries of the former Soviet Union.

Transparency International’s list has 70 countries, which were given less than five of ten possible scores. Such countries as Indonesia, Kenya, Angola, Madagascar, Paraguay, Nigeria, Bangladesh got less than two scores. This means that corruption in those countries is perceived as widely spread. The countries with a very low level of corruption got nine or more scores. Such countries are Finland, Denmark, New Zealand, Iceland, Singapore and Sweden. They are basically rich countries.

Ukraine’s corruption index  made up 2.1 in the year 2001, whereas it was very low in 2000 – 1.5. The country had the best rating in 1998 – 2.8, but it dropped down to 2.6 in 1999. Transparency International experts say that one should pay attention  to the score of a country, not to its place on the list.

The Ukrainian government usually has very negative attitude to such news, using “fool yourself” kind of argumentation. High-ranking officials release statements, which sound like “corruption is a Western invention.” Former Prosecutor General of Ukraine Mikhail Potebenko even declared that there was no corruption in Ukraine. He added that it was made up by journalists.

Yet, Vladimir Stretovich, the head of the parliamentary committee for struggle with corruption and organized crime, said the opposite thing. He stated at a press conference in Kiev that Transparency International’s conclusions were absolutely correct. As he said,  he was personally offered $50 thousand for helping a certain young man to take the position of deputy public prosecutor of one of Ukraine’s regions. Stretovich mentioned that corruption in Ukraine became like the norm of relations in the state and in the society. Corruption is a great obstacle for the economic development too. All those shallow anti-corruption programs in Ukraine were apparently meant for saving the face of the Ukrainian government. They do not bring any results, actually.

Andrey Lubensky
PRAVDA.Ru
Kiev
Ukraine