Dead souls at the front

Corruption and economics. June 16-22 events. Tax hikes, IT specialists flee, IMF denies restructuring of state bonds, internally displaced refugees forced to return home.

Corruption

On June 17, it emerged that a military accountant created fictitious soldiers in order to appropriate their salaries. He and his group of 3 have been arrested and are accused of earning 4.5 million hryvnia from their scheme.

The state bureau of investigations (SBI) announced on June 17 that it was looking into widespread corruption at the front, whereby officers received bribes to send soldiers to safer positions further from the front. According to the publication Glavkom, this was organized by former Deputy Chief of Staff of the Ground Forces Command Vladimir Gamanenko, who was appointed by Zaluzhny in December 2022. Gamanenko’s wide range of connections allowed him to receive 230,000 hryvnias in bribes, for which the SBI arrested him.

A border patrol official was arrested in the Cherkassy region for offering exemption from mobilization for money. He received $1000 from each of his victims. I wrote on another post this week about how the average bribe necessary to leave the country now stands at $20,000, an astronomical figure in Ukraine, where most people are lucky to earn 4300 a month.

On June 20, the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office announced that court has chosen to set a bail of 3 million hryvnia for Maksym Sokolyuk, the former head of the state migration service (SMS). He is accused of large scale corruption, especially regarding the use of 88 million hryvnia to repair the SMS building in the capital.

On June 20, the case of the Dnepropetrovsk main mobilization officer made it to court. The national police stated that over the first 18 months of war, he acquired $350 thousand USD worth of property, including several cars and two apartments. I wrote here about how the main mobilization officer of the Odessa region was arrested in May for large-scale corruption.

The national police released this photo of the Dnepropetrovsk region’s main mobilization officer

Anti-corruption gate

Zelensky’s struggle against the western-funded anti-corruption journalists continues developing. I wrote about it here and here a couple months ago, and here about the NABU (National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine)-SAPO (Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office) conflict in May-June.

The reader may recall that one of the ways the government has been trying to get Vitaly Shabunin - one of the most important pro-western anticorruption warriors - has been by accusing him of evading mobilization and misusing a car meant for the front. Paladin, the military fundraising group which gave Shabunin his infamous car, stated (again) on June 20 they did not intend for it to be used by him for personal reasons, and wished to see it at the front. Denis Dolynsky of the fund posted the following on facebook:

In our fund, serviceman Shabunin indeed applied for assistance in the form of a vehicle for the defense of the country. Yes, indeed, according to him, he planned to use it (the SUV) in Donbass for the defense of the country. Yes, indeed, according to him (Shabunin), he is serving using a vehicle brought in specifically for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And, yes, indeed, in the acceptance act, we, as a fund, indicate the purpose 'for the defense of the country.

Shabunin and ‘his’ SUV

For those familiar with my article on the NABU-SAPO conflict, you may remember that a popular theory is that the pro-western anti-corruption warrior Artem Sytnyk was positioning himself to take back control of NABU, which he used to head until a figure connected with Zelensky took power. Supporters of this theory claimed that the campaign against NABU’s corruption was organized, in part, by Sytnyk.

On June 3, Sytnyk left his post as head of the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption. But on June 21, Sytnyk was made head of the Agency of Defense purchases. Perhaps this is indicates that Sytnyk is indeed strengthening his position.

On June 20, the state news agency Ukrinform reported that three NABU detectives got well-paying jobs at the state railway company after investigating corruption there. I would add that pro-western media like Ukrainska Pravda and Dzerkalo Tyzhnia wrote about the government’s purge of critical voices in Ukrinform in late May, which I wrote about here.