Photo: Press service of the President of Ukraine
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy chaired a meeting of the National Security and Defence Council (NSDC), during which it was decided to impose new sanctions on a number of oligarchs, high-ranking officials and MPs. These are people caught in large-scale shadow financial schemes aimed at concealing capital through funds. The President announced this in his address.
Tough sanctions and criminal investigations
Zelenskyy said that the lists of sanctioned persons would be made public in the near future and stressed that all relevant materials would be handed over to law enforcement agencies.
“The decision on sanctions has been made. The lists will be published soon. There will be several tough packages. The heads of the tax service and financial monitoring have recently been replaced, and there are already first results. Shadow financial schemes that have been flourishing for years have finally been stopped. And this applies not only to oligarchs, but also to officials and MPs who used various funds to hide billions of hryvnias,” the President said.
According to Zelenskyy, Ukraine can no longer allow funds that should be spent on the economy and defence to end up in the pockets of corrupt officials.
Fighting corruption against the backdrop of war
The sanctions measures and criminal investigations are part of a broad anti-corruption campaign aimed at eradicating financial fraud in times of war. The President emphasised that the investigation would be impartial, regardless of the status or political affiliation of the offenders.
“Investigations must be objective, regardless of who is breaking the law,” he stressed.
Law enforcement agencies are expected to release the first results of their investigations in the near future, and new anti-corruption measures are expected to help clean up public finances from abuse.
