Survey: 88% of Ukraine’s top managers say Ukraine is corrupt
EY, formerly Ernst & Young, commissioned a survey for each of 41 individual countries in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and India. Members of the boards of directors and middle and senior managers were asked whether corruption and bribery are widespread in their country.
The study was conducted in Ukraine as well, where 100 employees of the companies were interviewed. The EY website reports that 88% of the Ukrainian respondents answered affirmative, which is the worst result among all the surveyed countries.
37% of respondents stated that as a general business practice they are ready to offer a monetary reward in exchange for signing or extending a contract.
The activity of bodies overseeing the fight against corruption was positively assessed by only 12% of respondents. At the same time, almost a third of respondents believe that the prosecution of certain employees will help prevent fraud, bribery and corruption among the leadership.
"These are very alarming signs that the political establishment should pay attention to, particularly the representatives of the legislative, executive and judicial branches of Ukrainian government," said Alexei Kredisov, EY Managing Partner in Ukraine. “It is necessary to significantly strengthen measures on combating corruption, the important components of which should be the independence of the judiciary, the prevention of conflict of interests and the transparency of practices of corporate governance in the public sector. The calls for ethical behavior by the leadership might not be enough. Specific actions are necessary, as well as illustrative examples of personal responsibility at the highest level.”