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The Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) publishes its report on Ukraine

Strasbourg, 29/10/07 - The Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) has published today its Joint First and Second Round Evaluation Report on Ukraine , which joined GRECO in 2006.

The report focuses on general anti-corruption policies, specialisation of law enforcement bodies in fighting corruption, independence of the judiciary, immunity from prosecution for corruption offences, the deprivation of benefits drawn from corrupt acts, measures to counter corruption in public administration and the prevention of legal persons - such as commercial companies - from being used as shields for corruption. The report was drawn up by a team of GRECO evaluators following a one week visit to Ukraine, during which the team held thorough discussions with officials and civil society representatives.

Information collected during the on-site visit indicates that Ukraine is perceived as being considerably affected by corruption, the problem being systemic and wide scale, affecting the whole society, its public institutions, including the judiciary, at central and local levels. GRECO concludes that corruption in Ukraine constitutes a real threat to the principles of democracy and the rule of law. The fight against corruption can therefore not be treated in isolation from democratic reforms. GRECO stresses that the President’s Concept Paper “On the way to Integrity” is a good basis for this reform process.

GRECO addresses 25 recommendations to Ukraine. They aim at the establishment of a mechanism for the implementation of an overall anti-corruption policy, including an action plan against corruption. More particularly, the recommendations deal with problems relating to the independence of the judiciary and the procuracy, access to information held by public authorities, procurement procedures, reform of the public administration and of the civil service, codes of ethics, reporting of corruption, auditing of central and local bodies and liability of legal persons for corruption offences.

GRECO will monitor the implementation of the recommendations to Ukraine towards the end of 2008, through its specific compliance procedure.