Changes Made: Ukraine Has Climbed Up by Only 1 Point in the World Ranking of Corruption Perception

1 point again! Ukraine managed to gain only 1 additional point based on the results of the world Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2015. At present, the country’s CPI is 27 out of 100 possible points, which is 1 point higher than it was last year. Ukraine ranked 130th out of 168 positions. In 2014 it was 142nd out of 175 positions. This result was achieved due to public judgment of corrupt officials, establishment of anti-corruption bodies and emergence of the whistleblowers movement. The delay with real punishment of corrupt officials and establishment of corrupt relations between business and the Government do not allow Ukraine to take a decisive step forward, according to the CPI.

Ukraine succeeded to get the higher position in the ranking because of the society’s critical attitude to corrupt officials. This is evidenced by the data survey of the Bertelsmann Foundation Transformation Index that is taken into account when determining the CPI. The number of whistleblowers had increased, as did the number of publications about corrupt officials in the media, which meant the Government has to respond. Representatives of legislative and executive branches use their powers for unlawful enrichment less and less, being afraid of ruining their image in the eyes of the society.  However, when it comes to the inevitability of punishment, there is much to be desired. At present, high-ranking officials are rarely brought to responsibility and properly punished for their crimes.

A slight progress can be seen in the part of establishment of anti-corruption institutions, which was indicated in the survey of the Freedom House Nations in Transit. The Government has really taken a number of positive steps toward establishing the legislation related to important anti-corruption bodies, but is slow with its implementation. The Government’s attempts to personally control these bodies remains one of the more delicate issues.

The interaction between business and the Government affected the CPI in the worst way. For the last year, the corruption level has increased in the matter of providing businessmen with public facilities and annual tax liabilities. As a result, Ukraine has scored -3 points according to the World Economic Forum Executive Opinion Survey. At the same time, there has been slight improvement in the area of rendering judgments in favor of entrepreneurs and public officials’ ethics when interacting with businessmen. But the positive side of these issues has not turned the scale of negative in interrelations between utility providers and taxmen.

“The data of the CPI 2015 confirm that the driving force of changes in Ukraine is the citizens: civil society organizations, investigative journalists and whistleblowers. It is they who control public officials, cases against corrupt officials in power get to the court under their pressure. But the system resists, and, in fact, hardly any corrupt officials are fairly punished”, comments the results of the CPI 2015 Oleksii Khmara, the Executive Director of Transparency International Ukraine.

To have real anti-corruption changes in Ukraine, Transparency International Ukraine calls the Government, the Parliament and the President to take 5 steps:

  • To urgently enable operation of independent anti-corruption bodies. To launch the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption and initiate the work of the electronic declaration system. To foresee the proper financing of the Agency in the budget. To provide transparent functioning of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office;
  • To implement the law On Transparent Financing Of Political Parties;
  • To carry out a judicial reform. To finish the investigation of Yanukovych’s crimes. To stop the disgraceful practice of judges to discharge high-ranking corrupt officials;
  • To ensure the principle of inevitability of punishment for public officials who committed corruption-related crime, including false information in their declarations.
  • To implement the law On Public Procurement. To reduce corruption risks in procurement for state costs.

The three leaders in the most famous anti-corruption CPI ranking 2015 are Denmark, New Zealand and Finland scoring 91 and 90 correspondingly.  The most corrupted countries are North Korea and Somali with 8 points. The “colleagues” of Ukraine with a shameful anti-corruption index of 27 points are Iran, Cameroon, Nepal, Nicaragua and Paraguay.

* NB: The data were recalculated in 2017. Read more: http://bit.ly/2wcut7a

Note: Corruption Perceptions Index is based on independent surveys where international financial and human rights experts, including the World Bank, the Freedom House, the World Economic Forum, the Asian and African Banks etc. take part. The index is a rating from 0 (perceived to be highly corrupt) to 100 (perceived to be very clean). To read the whole survey, please visit www.ti-ukraine.org  or www.transparency.org.

Contact  for media: Olga Tymchenko, Communications Department Head of Transparency International Ukraine

м.т. 050-352-96-18,

e-mail: [email protected]

 

Note:  Transparency International Ukraine is a national chapter of Transparency International, anti-corruption NGO with over 90 national chapters; which works in more than 100 countries. TI Ukraine’s mission is to limit the increase of corruption in Ukraine by promoting transparency, accountability and integrity in public authorities and civil society. You can learn more about the organization’s activity on the website

www.ti-ukraine.org.