In wartime, the fight against corruption in the defense sector should be intensified. However, the lack of parliamentary and public control limits these possibilities. NAKO Executive Director Olena Tregub is convinced of this.
"At present, defense procurement is almost unaccountable. As a public organization, before the full-scale invasion of Russia, we used to make requests for access to public information. Now we get to know about the abuse from criminal cases," she said in an interview for the "We are Ukraine" TV channel.
Olena Tregub emphasized that the anti-corruption bodies of Ukraine, in particular, the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, demonstrate an adequate level of work in the conditions of war. But there must be supervision even before criminal cases.
The director of NAKO noted that world practice has shown that the level of corruption increases during armed conflicts. "Many officials think that the war will erase everything, that everything is classified, so who will declassify it after the war." At the same time, the scale of financing the defense industry is colossal. Before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the budget of the Ministry of Defense amounted to a maximum of 22 billion hryvnias, and now it is 800 billion," said Olena Tregub.
She added that in the USA and other countries, corruption crimes during the war were subject to the highest punishment. After all, if in peacetime corruption in defense is not fatal, then in wartime it is deadly dangerous. Unfortunately, we still live in the legislative field of pre-war times. And now it is necessary to think about strengthening the criminal liability for corruption, so that people think several times before committing a crime.
"At present, defense procurement is almost unaccountable. As a public organization, before the full-scale invasion of Russia, we used to make requests for access to public information. Now we get to know about the abuse from criminal cases," she said in an interview for the "We are Ukraine" TV channel.
Olena Tregub emphasized that the anti-corruption bodies of Ukraine, in particular, the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, demonstrate an adequate level of work in the conditions of war. But there must be supervision even before criminal cases.
The director of NAKO noted that world practice has shown that the level of corruption increases during armed conflicts. "Many officials think that the war will erase everything, that everything is classified, so who will declassify it after the war." At the same time, the scale of financing the defense industry is colossal. Before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the budget of the Ministry of Defense amounted to a maximum of 22 billion hryvnias, and now it is 800 billion," said Olena Tregub.
She added that in the USA and other countries, corruption crimes during the war were subject to the highest punishment. After all, if in peacetime corruption in defense is not fatal, then in wartime it is deadly dangerous. Unfortunately, we still live in the legislative field of pre-war times. And now it is necessary to think about strengthening the criminal liability for corruption, so that people think several times before committing a crime.