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The Institute for Ethics and Economic Policy (IEEP) Fordham is a renowned Jesuit institution with over 165-year history of emphasis on ethics. |
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: TWO MORE
Premier Victor in Ukraine Vote;
Abuses Are Seen. POLITICIAN CHARGED WITH EXTORTION Olexander Stuparik,
former deputy governor of the
Ukrainian justice body asks parliament to sack rebel judge. The
Supreme Council of Justice has filed a request with the Supreme Council to
dismiss the judge of the Kiev, HEAD OF UKRAINE'S ANTICORRUPTION BODY RESIGNS.
President of
COURT DROPS CORRUPTION CASE AGAINST UKRAINIAN OPPOSITION
LEADER A Ukrainian court has struck
down corruption charges against opposition leader and former Deputy Prime
Minister Julia Tymoshenko and her husband. The decision ended more than a
year of probes and high-profile disputes between prosecutors and Tymoshenko.
A A NATIONWIDE ANTI-CORRUPTION FORUM SET UP Several non-governmental organizations and government officials have come together to set up an anti- corruption forum today. According to one of the initiators, the chief of State Tax Administration, Mykola Azarov, the forum would set up a code of good practice for bureaucrats, help expose corruption in government offices and assist in building better contacts with Western organizations. (BBC Monitoring Service, December 10, 2001, summary by Aruna Balakrishnan). ALLEGED
AVAILABILITY OF EXPLICIT PROOF OF PRESIDENTIAL CORRUPTION AND MONEY
LAUNDERING IN UKRAINE WITHHELD BY FORMER GUARD. A former Ukrainian
Presidential guard, Mykola Melnychenko, under asylum in the US since last
April has claimed that he has several hundreds of hours of recordings of
Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma´s alleged involvement in corruption,
international arms smuggling, and deliberate attempts by him to manipulate US
money- laundering investigations. US Justice Department has been mounting
pressure on Melnychenko to turn over all his recordings, to which he has
protested on the grounds of preserving Ukrainian national security interests.
Some of the recordings posted on the internet last year by an opposition
leader in Ukraine, included President Kuchma’s involvement in the murder of a
journalist and other crimes, which had sparked off mass public protests
calling for the President’s resignation. Ukraine, which was included in the
list of “non co-operative” countries
by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a group formed by the G7 to fight
money- laundering, has been under tremendous pressure to help track criminal
funds. The interest of the US in issuing the subpoena on Melnychenko, is
speculated to be related to acquiring a vast source of information on
international crime. Alternately, on the attempt by lawyers of former
Ukrainian president, Pavlo Lazarenko who is imprisoned in California on
charges of laundering upto $114mn through US banks and investments, to make
Lazarenko’s charges seem innocuous. President Kuchma has said that though
some of the recordings are genuine, others are not, and has alleged that they
are a part of a larger conspiracy. Anatoly Kinakh, Prime Minister of Ukraine,
has assured US Vice President, Dick Cheney of bilateral support to control
money- laundering.(The Financial Times, November 3, 2001, summary by Aruna
Balakrishnan).
JOURNALIST DIES OF INJURIES, LINKED TO HIS EXPOSURE OF CASES OF CORRUPTION Ihor Oleksandrov, a journalist involved in exposing cases of local corruption and organized crime, was attacked with baseball bats in the building of his TV station, TOR, and died days later from his injuries. Reporters Without Frontiers, the human rights group, has condemned the attack and demanded a thorough criminal investigation. The lack of a free press in post-Soviet era Ukraine and the unpunished attacks against journalists demonstrates that authorities do not take the matter seriously. (BBC News, July 7, 2001. Summary by Marg Reynolds)
DOZENS OF UKRAINIAN POLICE OFFICERS SENTENCED FOR CORRUPTION. Mykola Anufryev, Deputy Interior Minister, stated the badly underpaid police force is notorious for corruption and practices range from extorting bribes to ignoring criminal activity. A total of 55 policemen have been sentenced and 127 face legal proceedings for corruption; also, 14 ministry administrators have been dismissed and 57 have been disciplined. In the first four months of 2001, 10 officers were killed and 138 wounded while on duty. (KPNews, May 8, 2001, summary by Marg Reynolds).
Kiev, HEADLESS BODY THAT OF MISSING JOURNALIST. According to a team of U.S. experts, the headless body that was found near Kiev is that of a disappeared journalist, Georgi Gongadze. Mr. Gongadze was an honest critic of alleged high-level corruption who edited an Internet newsletter. The experts could not determine the cause of death because the head has not been found and because a lot of time has elapsed. Mykola Harnyk, first deputy state prosecutor, said that the death occurred two to three months before the body was found in November. We remind to you that opposition movements have accused President Leonid Kuchma of involvement in this killing. (Source: International Herald Tribune, May 9, 2001, summary by Pavlidis George).
EX PRIME MINISTER VOWS TO RETURN. An opportunity for the Ukrainian people exists in the form of the parliamentary elections to be held next year, in which Viktor Yushchenko, ex-Prime Minister, has vowed to return. Yushchenko was ousted by a parliamentary no-confidence vote and the reasons for his fall are listed as a commitment to the reforms leading to a market economy and the enormous corruption battle with the energy sector. The resistance to privatization of inefficient state enterprises, lack of transparency and legality, and the Ukraine’s integration into democratic Europe under President Kuchma has been questioned. (NZZ Online, May 1, 2001, summary by Marg Reynolds).
KIEV. U.S.
Team Confirms Identity of Ukrainian. The findings of a team of U. S.
experts confirmed the conclusion by Russian experts that the headless body is
that of Georgi Gongadze. Mr. Gongadze, an outspoken critic of alleged
high-level corruption who edited an Internet newsletter, disappeared in
mid-September. Opposition movements soon accused President Leonid
Kuchma of involvement in his slaying.(IHT, May 9, 2001, summary by B. Gray). ASYLUM GRANTED TO BODYGUARD WHO RECORDED UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT The United States has granted political asylum to Maj. Mykola Melnichenko, former officer in the bodyguard service of Leonid Kuchma, President. Maj. Melnichenko produced recordings and accused the President of involvement in the death of a journalist, Heorhiy Gongaze. The tapes contain state secrets, which may cause tremendous damage to the Ukraine. Although the U.S. State Department said the decision to give Melnichenko asylum was not politically motivated, authorities may question him on various corruption scandals and security matters. (Houston Chronicle (AP), Apr 14, 2001, summary by Marg Reynolds).
DEFIANT PRESIDENT SAYS HE WON’T CAPITULATE TO DEMANDS FOR RESIGNATION DUE TO CORRUPTION Leonid Kuchma, President, has stated he would not capitulate and called the opposition parties and human rights groups’ demands that he resign, ‘Absurd’. In the biggest scandal of the ex-Soviet state’s decade of independence, tapes have been published in which a voice like Kuchma’s discusses kidnapping a critical report, Georgiy Gongadze. Gongadze’s headless and mutilated body was found outside Kiev last November. In another case, Hanne Severinsen, parliamentary envoy of the Council of Europe, a democracy and human rights monitoring institution, expressed concern about the treatment of Yulia Tymoshenko, one of Kuchma’s prominent opponents, who faces trial on corruption charges and has been held in solitary confinement without adequate medical treatment. (Yahoo News, Apr 3, 2001, summary by Marg Reynolds).
Kiev, COURT FREES KUCHMA FOE. In a blow to President Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine, a Kiev District Court ordered the release of a former deputy prime minister and opposition leader, Yulia Tymoshenko. Mrs. Tymoshenko was arrested in February on extensive corruption charges. Mrs. Tymoshenko's attorneys argued that prosecutors erred in ordering her arrested. "Tymoshenko is an outstanding political figure in Ukraine," said her lawyer and party colleague, Oleksandr Turchynov. "The only charges against her are political ones," he added (Source: International Herald Tribune, March 28, 2001, summary by Pavlidis George).
SECRET
RECORDINGS MADE FROM UNDER A COUCH SEEK TO STOP CORRUPTION Mikola Melnichenko, security officer,
has recently transcribed hundreds of hours of tapes tracing virtually all
high-level corruption, repression, and some acts of violence to President
Leonid Kuchma and his circle of oligarchs, businessmen, and bankers. Mikola stated that more than $1 billion
has been pocketed by the President for personal or political use, that it has
been laundered by those in his circle, and that the promised market economy
and democracy has fallen under the sway of the powerful and wealthy at the
expense of national prosperity.
Prosecutors, tax officials, intelligence chiefs, military, and other
security officers have contributed to the atmosphere of cynicism and
treachery in the inner circle of Mr. Kuchma’s private little racket. (NYT,
Feb. 26, 2001, summary by Marg Reynolds). OPPOSITION
LEADER WANTS PRESIDENT OUT
Opposition leaders have called upon the international community to
push President Leonid Kuchma into resigning and has rallied around their
imprisoned leader, Julia Tymoshenko, former deputy premier, who was arrested
on charges of large scale corruption and bribery. Julia claims political foes and corruption officials and
businessmen orchestrated the charges.
Investigators have questioned possible involvement of President Kuchma
in the murder of disappeared journalist, Heorhiy Gongadze. (Yahoo News, AP, Feb. 23, 2001, summary
by Marg Reynolds).
Ukraine’s Mikola Melnichenko, a 34 year old has hundreds of hours of tapes showing that the president Leonid D. Kuchma pocketed $1 billion and ordered kidnapping of a journalist Georgy Gongadze, who was found dead. Igor Bakai, former head of Ukraine’s energy monopoly was also helped in stealing $30 million. (NYT February 26, 2001).
FORMER UKRAINIAN LEADER ARRESTED ON CORRUPTION CHARGES. Yulia Timoshenko is a former deputy prime minister of Ukraine. On Tuesday, Ms Timoshenko was arrested on corruption charges after a criminal investigation that led to her removal from the government by president Leonid Kuchma on 19 January. Ukraine's tax administration said Ms Timoshenko had illegally transferred more than $1bn out of Ukraine between 1996-97. Ms Timoshenko is an opponent of Mr Kuchma who is currently facing growing public unrest over his alleged involvement in a murder scandal. Ms Timoshenko, who has been widely praised by the IMF and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development for reforming the energy sector, has denied the accusations; she insists that she had been framed by Mr Kuchma's close circle. (Source: Financial Times, February 13, 2001, summary by Pavlidis George).
Kiev, ANTI-KUCHMA MARCH REACHES KIEV. An estimated 10,000 protesters from across Ukraine converged on Kiev yesterday, demanding that President Leonid Kuchma step down over the disappearance and killing of an opposition journalist. Georgy Gongadze was an Internet journalist who ran a news web site critical of Kuchma that exposed high-level corruption. Georgy Gongadze went missing last September. The decapitated body that was later found, was believed to be his (the Prosecutor General's Office rejected, though, a DNA test that suggested the body was Gongadze's). There are allegations that President Kuchma helped plot to kidnap and kill the journalist. However, Mr. Kuchma has repeatedly denied his involvement in the disappearance. The European Union expressed yesterday its concern about media freedom in Ukraine and urged for a full and open inquiry into Gongadze's disappearance. (Source: The Moscow Times, February 7, 2001, summary by Pavlidis George).
KIEV - The president of Ukraine Leonid Kuschma has said he does not intend to dismiss any of his cabinet officials after a report issued by his national security director alleged government corruption in the energy sector. According to the report, the government had overstated budget revenues from energy by as much as 3.9bn hryvnia ($717m), and was arbitrarily funneling revenues from energy to favored companies. So far, the government has not convincingly refuted the charges. (Financial Times, Summary by Fabian Camacho, November 14,2000). IMF has accused Mr. Yushchenko who headed the central bank of deception. It is suspected of double counting currency reserves of $1 billion during 1996 to 1998. (NYT, mar. 16, 2K, p. A3) 15]; KIEV - President Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine has said that the fuel and energy complex is the most politicized and criminalized economic sector in Ukraine, followed by areas such as metallurgy, agriculture, and the social sphere. He also criticized the government for failing to draft legislation concerning the legalization of shadow capital. (RFE/RF Newsline, October 12,2000. Summary by Fabian Camacho). Ukraine's
Top Energy Official Vows To Enforce Cash Payment for Bills. (See item 15, The Index of Economic Freedom (by Driscoll-Holmes-Kirkpatrick) for 2001 places Ukraine in the “Mostly Unfree” category with a rank of 135 (Ranks range from 1 for Hong Kong to 155 for North Korea, Wall Street Journal, Nov. 1, 2000). H. D. Vinod’s trimmed correlation analysis indicates that countries free from economic regulation are less corrupt. After allowing for some exceptions by 20% trimming, the correlation is near 0.9. |
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Design:
Theo den Brinker |
Copyright:
Hrishikesh D. Vinod 2000 |
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