Turning the pages back... February 14, 1997 (02/10/02)

Turning the pages back...

February 14, 1997

Five years ago we carried news that President Leonid Kuchma had fired the first salvo in his war on corruption by releasing two high-level government officials and dismissing the head of the committee on corruption and organized crime on February 14, 1997. "It was the president's version of a Valentine's Day massacre," wrote our Kyiv correspondent, Roman Woronowycz.

Mr. Kuchma dismissed Ukraine's Agriculture Minister Anatolii Khorishko and First Vice Minister of Transportation Leonid Zhelezniak, as well as the chairman of the Coordinating Committee on Corruption and Organized Crime of the Cabinet of Ministers. The committee chairmanship was given to Vice Prime Minister Vasyl Durdynets.

Our Kyiv correspondent wrote: "Maybe President Kuchma finally had his fill of the government's stalled efforts at resuscitating Ukraine's stuporous economy, which he in part blamed on regional-and ministerial-level leaders who pursue their personal agendas. Or perhaps his resolute action was a result of his meeting with World Bank Chairman James Wolfensohn in Davos, Switzerland, at the World Economic Forum, where the banker noted the increase in corruption in Ukraine."

President Kuchma blamed all levels of government for the growth of corruption. His speech implicated the Verkhovna Rada, district and city officials, heavy industry and health care, and his own prime minister, Petro Lazarenko, whom Mr. Kuchma accused of being soft on anti-corruption efforts. He also upbraided enforcement agencies for being lax in dealing with corruption in the energy and alcohol industries.

The president further lashed out at the government committees organized to fight corruption, a not-so-veiled criticism of the committee before which he spoke. He said too many public officials had "dirty hands" and that it was time for a clean-up effort, which he likened to the "clean hands" program in Poland, where an in-depth review had taken place to ferret out government administrators linked to corruption and crime.

The president did not absolve himself of blame for the spread of corruption, although he brought everybody else into the picture with him. "I have not and will not cleanse myself of the responsibility - the president is answerable for all that takes place in the country. But all parts of the government must shoulder their responsibility - the government, central and local administrations of government," he stated.

Five years later, corruption in Ukraine remains an issue, as noted by participants of the recently concluded World Economic Forum, held this year in New York instead of Davos. And former prime minister Lazarenko awaits U.S. trial on money laundering charges.

Source: "Kuchma declares war on corruption in government" by Roman Woronowycz, Kyiv Press Bureau, The Ukrainian Weekly, February 23, 1997, Vol. LXV, No. 8.

| Home Page |