How to fight corruption: Time for qui tam laws?

By Keith Darden (American University, USA)

 

Corruption is the main impediment to Ukraine’s prosperity and long-term security.  If Ukraine had an effective, efficient and less corrupt state, it would enjoy legitimacy, investment, and, as a country of 46 million people, would face few threats—either foreign or domestic—to its sovereignty and territorial integrity.  

 

How can Ukraine become less corrupt?  One solution is lustration, or a purge of corrupt officials through massive anti-corruption campaigns.  To the extent that corruption is caused by the personal characteristics of officials, then firing or prosecuting corrupt officials and replacing them with people of integrity and ability is part of the solution.  But what if the problem is not simply bad people, but bad incentives and institutions?  Or if it is not so easy to select “good” honest and capable people to staff the bureaucracy?  If this is the case, then lustration will not solve the problem.  And the history of massive anti-corruption campaigns and lustration efforts is not terribly promising as a means to root out corruption.  Prosecution is often selective—targeting one’s political enemies rather than treating all potential cases equally—and such campaigns often devolve quickly into politically motivated efforts to redistribute the spoils of the state.  Purges of this kind may result in a turnover in personnel as the loyal members of one political faction are replaced with those of another, but not a change in the corrupt nature of the system.  Corruption remains.

Summary of the Ukrainian struggle for lustration

By Agnieszka Piasecka (The Open Dialog Foundation)

 

The origin of term “lustration” comes from Czech Republic that had implemented lustration in 1991, weeks after the last Soviet troops left the country. It is often understood as vetting but there is a difference. Vetting – screening – can (and should be) be used in every state for verification of candidates for public service. Lustration is also a form of vetting, but its main purpose is to block those whose influence may be dangerous for the newly emerging democracy.

By  Irina Paliashvili (RULG)

16 September 2014 was a dramatic day in Ukraine’s history: the Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) in a closed, secret vote adopts the Law on special status of Donetsk and Luhansk separatist regions, providing for local self-rule and amnesty to the separatists-terrorists, who in turn are not amused and respond with the announcement that they have created the joint army of “Novorossiya” (Putin’s term meaning “NewRussia”), while Russia, which lobbied for everything the new Law provides for, welcomes it with the Russian Defense Minister announcing that Russia must deploy a “full-fledged and self-sufficient” army in the Crimean direction  Also today the Rada ratifies the EU Association Agreement, but implementation of the parts of it is delayed.  On top of that, the Rada, after several failed attempts and the threat from Speaker Turchinov to keep them locked inside until they carry out the final vote, adopts the Law on Lustration too!  One of the most odious Rada Deputies from the Party of Regions is caught by protesters outside the Rada and is thrown into the garbage bin, but after being extracted by bodyguards, he has no complaints: Hey, it’s all good, no hard feelings, Guys!   As my Swiss friend says: “Well, but the Rada always has been rather sporty!”.  Blogosphere exploded and my head is spinning, it is impossible to evaluate or predict anything anymore! 

Comments on the draft law "On lustration" and recommendations for the second reading

By Maxim Cherkasenko, Democratic Alliance

In short, the bill does not create an impression of a comprehensive legislative act introducing a mechanism for effective lustration, designed in line with European and international experience, as well as recommendations of the Council of Europe. Hence, if adopted without substantial revision, the bill is unlikely to achieve the purposes of lustration procedure, such as fighting corruption within the governmental bodies. In addition, there is a high probability that bill’s implementation in its current version is likely to result in a range of negative consequences, e.g. biased and selective use of the law such as dismissal of “unwanted” persons in governmental agencies, violation of some constitutional rights, etc. The cumulative effect of such legislation may discredit the concept of lustration as such, despite the fact that there’s a high social demand for lustration now.

If Ukraine Needs Lustration in 2014

By Bohdan Vitvitsky (Former Federal Prosecutor and Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice; New Jersey, USA)

The two principal rationales for lustration in countries such as Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland that implemented lustration projects in the 1990s were a fear of penetration by communist or Russian secret services and a fear that former informers or collaborators of such secret services could be blackmailed into serving interests other than local national interests.

If Ukraine as represented by the Deputies in the Rada believes that either or both of such fears continue to be justified in Ukraine today, then a lustration project that addresses those fears might be implemented.  It should, however, be understood from the outset that lustration is not the tool for dealing with corruption or with the absence of integrity and professionalism among public servants.

Comments on the Ukrainian Draft Law on Lustration

Comments on the Ukrainian Draft Law on Lustration

By Bohdan Vitvitsky (Former Federal Prosecutor and Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice; New Jersey, USA)

A bad law on lustration is worse than no law on lustration.  There is a popular draft of a law proposed by Yegor Sobolev and others and supported by a number of NGOs.  In its present form, the Ukrainian draft law on lustration prompts many serious reservations.  These reservations arise mainly because the draft law violates key provisions contained in Council of Europe recommendations relating to laws on lustration; because the draft law is in important respects altogether impractical; and because perhaps what Ukraine needs now, as reflected by all surveys of public opinion, is a significant reduction in levels of corruption rather than a post-communist style lustration.  

Lustration in Ukraine: Is the work ever over?

by Kateryna Dronova (Berkeley, CA)

 

The new Ukrainian government is currently facing a growing public demand for lustration of the former government members and their supporters who are considered corrupt as well as allied with Russian agents. As a response to this demand in February, 2014 Lustration Committee headed by Egor Sobolev (leading Ukrainian opposition journalist and activist) has been established under the Cabinet of Ministers. This post aims to review the steps undertaken by committee towards its initial goals, as well as critiques of recently introduced “lustration” bills.