Recent Posts
- Ukraine recovery should be based on development of territorial communities, innovations, involvement of professional domestic community – results of ESUR forum 29.06.2023
- Ukraine repatriates five more seriously wounded Russian POWs 10.04.2023
- Rada intends to include history of Ukraine, foreign language in final certification for general secondary education 10.04.2023
- Rada terminates protocol on joint anti-terrorist measures in CIS territories for Ukraine 10.04.2023
- 100 Ukrainians, incl defenders of Mariupol, returned according to swap procedure – Yermak 10.04.2023
Return of assets stolen by Yanukovych's entourage is possible only on condition of independence of anti-corruption agencies – Ambassador of Switzerland to Ukraine
KYIV. Dec 9 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Advancement in the process of returning to Ukraine assets stolen by the entourage of former President Viktor Yanukovych and frozen in a number of EU countries is possible only in the absence of political influence on the Ukrainian anti-corruption bodies, Swiss Ambassador to Ukraine Claude Wild has said.
Speaking at the Seven Years of Anti-Corruption Reform conference in Kyiv on Thursday, timed to coincide with the International Day against Corruption, the ambassador said the anti-corruption legislation and reforms in Ukraine in the fight against corruption are a prerequisite for the return of assets that were withdrawn from Ukraine by Yanukovych’s entourage.
After the Revolution of Dignity, several countries, including Switzerland, frozen assets that are suspected of being stolen by the entourage of former President Yanukovych, he said.
"The intention of the frozen asset was to give Ukraine time to investigate the outlined crimes: to prove that the money stems from corruption and to take national court decisions qualifying these assets has been stolen from the state. Thus, courts in the countries that froze these assets were able to confirm the criminal origin of these assets, and this was important for the return of funds to Ukraine," the ambassador said.
He said: "Since 2014, Ukraine is working on the recovery of these stolen assets. Their return to Ukraine is very important both from both socio-economic developing prospective as well as from the criminal justice prospective," the ambassador said.
Wild also said: "Since 2014, Ukraine has a record progress but the progress has sometimes been slower than many of us have hoped for."
"However, progress in asset recovery is only possible if the anti-corruption institutions of Ukraine are independent, if they do not have party influence and if they have powerful powers to fight corruption," Wild said.
In this context, he drew attention to the fact that the competition for the election of the head of the SAPO is very important for increasing confidence in the SAPO and in the entire architecture of anti-corruption agencies.
