Kiev, 28 November 2012.

Today, November 28, is the first anniversary of the State Program of Corruption Fighting and Prevention in Ukraine for 2011–2015. It has been adopted by the Government for implementation of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy approved by the decree of President Viktor Yanukovych. The Coalition of NGOs has started a complex monitoring of the State Anticorruption Program effectiveness. This information was provided by Transparency International Ukraine that coordinated the project “State Anti-Corruption Program – Under Civic Control!”.

The State Anti-Corruption Program provides for over UAH 820 mln of budget money, which makes it one of the most expensive state programs. Particularly, in 2011 UAH 1.94 mln were to be allocated for 30 State Anti-Corruption Program events, and respectively UAH 245.48 mln – for 105 events of this program in 2012. Nevertheless, according to the tentative analysis of the situation by civic organizations, the money foreseen for implementation of the State Anti-Corruption Program has not been allocated in fact. According to judgment of experts, this situation endangers implementation of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy approved by the President of Ukraine.

“The State Anti-Corruption Program has been developed and adopted without any discussion with the civil society. That is why one of the main goals of the project is to ascertain the reasons for choosing particular events and to clarify the real expenditure purposes for almost a billion of budget money,” said head of Transparency International Ukraine Oleksii Khmara. “Now the situation appears as if somebody wants to entrap the head of the state, and this aspect should be considered in the context of the formation of the new Government”.

Oleksii Khmara believes that the National Anti-Corruption Committee under the office of President of Ukraine (that is responsible for the comprehensive assessment of the situation in the sphere of corruption fighting) could express their judgment of the situation, but their position remains unknown.

The civic monitoring of implementation of the State Program of Corruption Fighting and Prevention for 2011–2015 is provided by Transparency International Ukraine in the partnership with Anti-Corruption Council of Ukraine, Ukrainian Institute for Public Policy, Open Society Foundation, Centre for Political and Legal Reforms, “Filosofiia Sertsia” (Philosophy of Heart) Civic Union, and Informational-Legal Centre “Our Right”. Financial support of the project is provided by MATRA program (the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands) and Renaissance International Foundation.

We expect the tentative results of the civic monitoring to be presented on December 09 within the framework of events devoted to the International Anti-Corruption Day.

Contacts for Media

Press Centre of the Project “State Anti-Corruption Program – Under Civic Control!”
Bogdan Yakymiuk
Cell: +38 93 698 76 46
Phone: +38 44 361 78 28
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Transparency International Ukraine
+38 044 360 52 42
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www.ti-ukraine.org

Note: The civic monitoring of implementation of the State Program of Corruption Fighting and Resistance for 2011–2015 is provided by Transparency International Ukraine in partnership with Anticorruption Council of Ukraine, Ukrainian Institute for Public Policy, Open Society Foundation, Centre for Political and Legal Reforms, “Filosofiia Sertsia” (Philosophy of Heart) Civic Union, and Informational-Legal Centre “Our Right”. Financial support of the project is provided by MATRA program (the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands) and Renaissance International Foundation.