Sawt Falasteen - Ukraine dismisses key officials in anti-graft purge

Ukraine has long suffered endemic corruption, but government efforts to stamp out graft have been overshadowed by Moscow's nearly year-long full-scale war.

Western allies, which have allocated billions of dollars in financial and military aid to Kyiv to counter Russian troops, have often preconditioned such support on anti-corruption reforms.

Presidential aide Mykhaylo Podolyak said President Volodymyr Zelensky had focused on "key priorities of the state" in dismissing the officials, who include governors of regions that have seen heavy fighting and deputy cabinet ministers.

"During the war, everyone should understand their responsibility," Podolyak tweeted.

"The president sees and hears society."

The shakeup came after a Ukrainian deputy minister of development of communities and territories, Vasyl Lozynskiy, was sacked at the weekend following his arrest on suspicion of embezzlement.

Photographs released by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau showed stashes of cash seized at Lozynskiy's office.

The 36-year-old was accused of receiving a $400,000 bribe to "facilitate" the purchase of generators at inflated prices as Ukraine struggles with electricity shortages following Russian strikes on the energy grid.

- 'Good deeds' -

On Tuesday, key presidential aide Kyrylo Tymoshenko, who has worked with Zelensky since his 2019 election, announced his resignation.

The 33-year-old posted a picture of himself holding a handwritten resignation letter, thanking the president for the "opportunity to do good deeds every day and every minute".

Tymoshenko was implicated in several scandals, including over the alleged personal use last October of an SUV donated to Ukraine for humanitarian purposes.

Oleg Nemchinov, a senior government official, also announced the departure of five regional governors and four deputy ministers.

They include the heads of the central Dnipropetrovsk region, the northeastern Sumy region, the southern regions of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, as well as the region surrounding the capital Kyiv.

Nemchinov additionally announced the dismissal of two deputy ministers of development of communities and territories, and a deputy minister of social policy.

The defence ministry separately announced the resignation of deputy minister Vyacheslav Shapovalov, who oversaw the army's logistical support.

It came after the ministry was accused of signing food contracts at prices two to three times higher than current rates for basic foodstuffs.

- Spain holiday -

The ministry insisted the accusations were "unfounded and baseless" but said Shapovalov's departure would "preserve the trust of society and international partners".

Deputy Prosecutor General Oleksiy Symonenko also resigned, following media reports that he had holidayed in Spain, reportedly using a car belonging to a Ukrainian businessman.

In his evening address on Monday, Zelensky announced coming "personnel decisions" and said he was banning officials from travelling abroad unless work-related.

"If they want to rest now, they will rest outside the civil service," Zelensky said.

Despite being vocal about fighting corruption, Zelensky himself has been embroiled in corruption scandals in the past.

In 2021, the so-called Pandora Papers obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists said Zelensky used a network of offshore companies to buy three upmarket properties in London.

His office said at the time that Zelensky, who is a former actor and comedian, created the offshore companies to protect himself against the "aggressive actions" of the "corrupt" regime of then pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych.

Transparency International ranked Ukraine 122 out of 180 in its corruption ranking for 2021.

According to the Centre for Economic Strategy, a Ukrainian think-tank, the total amount of Western military and financial support for Kyiv could total $100 billion this year, including more than $40 billion for its armed forces.

G.AbuOdeh--SF-PST