Dear Editor:
The “appeal for decisive action in Ukraine’s fight against corruption” from the Friends of Ukraine Network (March 18) should be endorsed by all supporters of reform. At the same time, the appeal is hypocritical as it ignores Western complicity in four areas.
Firstly, Ukraine is criticized for not putting corrupt officials on trial and therefore needs an Anti-Corruption Court. At the same time, European countries give refuge to Ukrainian oligarchs and officials fleeing justice from Ukraine.
The U.S. and Spain are both seeking gas oligarch Dmytro Firtash’s extradition from Vienna, which the Austrian judicial system is resisting. Former Ukrspetsexport chairman Serhiy Bondarchuk received asylum in the U.K. after an expert report was prepared by a Chatham House expert. Ihor Kolomoyskyi, whose Pryvat Bank laundered $5.5 billion over a decade, is living at Lake Geneva in Switzerland.
Secondly, offshore tax havens and banks launder dirty money from Ukraine. Mr. Kolomoyskyi’s Pryvat Bank could not have laundered billions of dollars without Western banks.
Thirdly, U.S. political consultants continue to accept dirty money from offshore tax havens not accounted for under Ukraine’s e-declaration system. Yulia Tymoshenko’s contract with Avenue Strategies for an annual $780,000 is many times higher than stated in her e-declaration.
Fourth, some U.S.-Ukrainians accepted dirty Ukrainian money and pontificate about corruption in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America was the leading force in accepting $2 million from Mr. Firtash, who is wanted by the U.S. government for corruption and by the Spanish government for money laundering in cahoots with Russian organized crime (http://www.ucca.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=348%3Aholodomor-memorial-groundbreaking-ceremony-slated-for-december-4-2013&catid=5%3Apress-releases&Itemid=22&lang=en). The UCCA thanked Mr. Firtash for his generosity (http://www.ucca.org/index.php?option =com_content&view=article&id=347%3Aukrainian-holodomor-memorial-receives-sizable-donation-from-dmytro-firtash& catid=5%3Apress-releases&Itemid=22 &lang=en).
Even if the $2 million was from the “Ukrainian government,” as Askold Lozynskyj claimed, this was from the anti-Ukrainian Yanukovych government that plundered $40 billion, murdered protesters and committed treason. It is immoral to accept money from an un-Ukrainian regime wanted by your own U.S. government.
The U.S.-Ukraine Foundation (home of the Friends of Ukraine Network) continued to accept dirty money from the Yanukovych regime after Yuriy Lutsenko and Yulia Tymoshenko were imprisoned until the Euro-Maidan.
The U.S.-Ukraine Foundation received donations from the Akhmetov and the Klyuyev foundations for its “Ukraine in Washington” gala in December 2013, ironically during the Euro-Maidan Revolution. Andriy Klyuyev was a speaker at the annual “Ukraine in Washington” gala event throughout the Yanukovych presidency. In effect, the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation provided Yanukovych cronies with a platform to lobby the U.S. government to moderate its criticism of their patron.
It is hypocritical for U.S. Ukrainians to accept dirty money from Ukraine with one hand and call for sanctions against oligarchs with the other. The U.S. and Europe need to close their numerous avenues facilitating the acceptance of dirty money from Ukraine (and Russia and other former Soviet countries). The closing of “swamps” in Brussels and Washington will assist in the closing of the “swamp” in Kyiv.
The Hague
The letter writer is a professor with the Department of Political Science, National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy, and non-resident fellow, Center for Transatlantic Relations, Johns Hopkins University – School of Advanced International Studies. He is also a member of the editorial boards of Demokratizatsiya, and Eurasian Geography and Economics.