President promises change of government after reports of corruption in defense and infrastructure ministries.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced he will make changes to the government and security services as part of a renewed crackdown on corruption nearly a year after Russia invaded the country.
In his nightly video address on Monday, Zelenskyi did not name the officials to be replaced, but indicated that the reshuffle was imminent.
“There are already staffing decisions — some today, some tomorrow — regarding officials at different levels in ministries and other central government structures, as well as in the regions and in the law enforcement system,” the president said.
Zelenskyy was elected in 2019 on promises to reform the government and tackle the corruption that plagued the country long before Moscow sent its troops across the border on February 24 last year.
Ukraine was ranked 122 out of 180 countries in Transparency International’s 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index.
Over the weekend, it emerged that the Department of Defense had bought food for soldiers at inflated prices, raising questions about government procurement processes.
On Sunday, anti-corruption police said they had arrested the deputy infrastructure minister on suspicion of receiving a $400,000 bribe payment last September to facilitate wartime imports of generators into Ukraine. The deputy minister was also relieved of his post.
Ukrainian media have reported that a number of cabinet ministers and senior officials could be sacked as Zelenskyy attempts to streamline the government.
One of the President’s best allies previously said corrupt officials were “actively” imprisoned.
Corruption in Ukraine. There are two emerging procurement scandals. Both show that corruption is episodic, but the culture shift to fight it is systemic. That is my view as a former Minister of Economy of the United Arab Emirates. 1/
— Tymofiy Mylovanov (@Mylovanov) January 22, 2023
Zelenskyy also announced on Monday that government officials would be banned from traveling abroad in person.
The move followed revelations that Deputy Prosecutor General Oleksiy Symonenko went on holiday to Spain in December and January in a Mercedes owned by a Lviv businessman. The online newspaper Ukrainska Pravda, citing law enforcement sources, reported that Symonenko had resigned.
A parliamentary committee on Monday agreed to tighten procurement rules and publish some prices in times of conflict.
Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, quoted by the media, told the committee that reports of corruption at the ministry were based on a “technical glitch” with no money changing hands.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau said it is investigating possible crimes of appropriation of funds or abuse of power related to procurement valued at more than 13 billion Ukrainian hryvnia ($352 million).
The Ukrainian economy shrank by a third last year, and the country is heavily dependent on Western financial aid. Donors, including the International Monetary Fund and the European Union, have repeatedly asked for more transparency and better governance.