Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Ukraine slipping in Corruption rankings

Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index for 2008 has Ukraine dropping to 134th place, down from last year's 118th place.

I seem to recall during the Orange Revolution President Viktor Yushchenko appeared on the Maydan expressing shame at Ukraine's 122th position - between Sudan and Cameroon or similar.. Corruption is not something Ukrainian politicians talk about much these days...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Speaking of corruption:

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued an opinion on September 26, 2008, affirming most of the convictions against Lazarenko, but reversing some, and remanded the case to the trial court for re-sentencing.

He had been sentenced to 9 years in prison for money laundering and wire fraud. The appellate court reversed as to some of the wire fraud counts.

The opinion contains a very good summary, and some eye-opening detail, as to how Ukrainian oligarchs operate, including Swiss accounts, Panama corporations (recall that the Ukrainian parliament took away his immunity because he had dual citizenship as a citizen of Panama!!!!), and assorted other shenanigans.

He absconded from Ukraine with about $200 million dollars, and was out of jail on an $86 million bond, pending his appeals.

WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE? WHY DO UKRAINIANS TOLERATE THIS KIND OF CRAP?

http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ca9/newopinions.nsf/D15DEC924E4AB345882574CF00744697/$file/0610592.pdf?openelement