Corruption and business in Ukraine. Today our special correspondent interviewed Yuriy Mironov, director and co-founder of the law firm MEGAPRAVO and owner of the IT company INFBusiness.
Tell me, Yuriy, are corruption and business in Ukraine the same thing?
Unfortunately, yes, but with clear successes in the fight against the corruption hydra in recent years. It is useless to fight corruption if the top of its pyramid ends with the President or a group of oligarchs who have influence on the President. This was the case during the 28 years of Independence until Zelensky, whose credibility is very high among Ukrainians, came to power. As far as I know according to one of the latest statistics – more than 86% of the population supports the current President.
Today the scheme of corruption is broken from above, but it remains a multifaceted of several large pyramids, the tops of which may be closed on some people, perhaps in the Cabinet of Ministers, prosecutor’s office or deputies.
How do you think, how to defeat corruption in Ukraine?
Unfortunately, nowadays, the fight against corruption is mainly led by the state, practically without the support of the people.
In social networks you can read a lot of complaints from entrepreneurs about corruption from the authorities, but without mentioning what was done personally by the authors and their acquaintances to counteract it. And all because they are restrained either by fear or distrust of law enforcement agencies. That is why their complaints are generalized, without a single fact of a corrupt act of a particular official.
To defeat corruption, start with yourself – do not give bribes, respond to extortion to law enforcement agencies. Control deadlines for officials to fulfill decisions on your issues. If they artificially delay the decisions necessary for you, file a lawsuit – there will certainly punish the bureaucrat who created red tape. If the local court is in a scheme with an official, there is always a possibility to find justice in higher instances. If businessmen all over Ukraine will act like this and cut off money flows of corrupt schemes, all these pyramids will collapse like houses of cards.
Do you really believe in Ukrainian businessmen that they will be able to stand up to corruption?
Entrepreneurs are first of all our Ukrainians. They are the same people who today resolutely repel and defeat the Rashists. I am sure that Ukrainian business will also help the authorities to defeat corruption.
You are very optimistic in your forecasts
Not quite so. There is a “spoonful of tartar in a barrel of honey”. Unfortunately, today it is not always possible to get fair anti-corruption actions from our businessmen. After all, there is not a small part of them, who… are themselves interested in corrupt schemes.
Frankly speaking, I personally heard many times from my fellow businessmen complaining not about corruption, but on the contrary, about fighting it! Their justification for this opinion was a typical statement: “It used to be simpler and clearer to pay someone and get land for use or set up a trading point in an unauthorized place.
It was and in some places is a strong corruption circle, that the more businessmen violate the law, the more money the controlling authorities get from them. Both sides benefit from this, only the state and its people are the losers. This criminal psychology of businessmen must be changed. A businessman should not be proud of his “shaggy paw” in the government and that he can solve any issue for bribes, but on the contrary, he should be ashamed of it and afraid of severe punishment!
