15:44 20.10.2020

British ambassador positively assesses Ukrainian authorities' achievements in fight against corruption

2 min read
British ambassador positively assesses Ukrainian authorities' achievements in fight against corruption

The Ukrainian administration has achieved quite a lot over this year in the fight against corruption, and has demonstrated that corruption is taken seriously, British Ambassador to Ukraine Melinda Simmons has said.

She said that there is no question when President Volodymyr Zelensky says that they have created the High Anti-Corruption Court. The fact that now it hears cases, takes them seriously and that the country has an ambitious anti-corruption strategy, a law on illegal enrichment was adopted in parliament – all these are really important signs and signals from the top that corruption is taken seriously, the ambassador said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

At the same time, according to her, the focus on the fight against corruption should not be lost. It is necessary to constantly press and tell people that this is still a priority, she added.

Inevitably, the problem lies in selfish interests, Simmons said. The more the authorities succeed in the fight against corruption, the more actively these stakeholders are trying to pull the country back.

She said that she remembers that she had several conversations with Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Dmytro Razumkov about a large number of amendments that were made to laws related to corruption, and how these amendments had to be considered one after another in order to achieve the adoption of the law.

Simmons said that one of the ways that stakeholders will try to neutralize progress is through political attacks on independent institutions. These independent institutions should be able to do their job, and not only because they had political or financial support from the West. They exist to ensure the continuation of this anti-corruption work to improve the lives of Ukrainians, the diplomat said.

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