The G7 Announce a New Anti-Corruption Task Force for Ukraine

Niall Hearty of Rahman Ravelli outlines the issues surrounding the creation of a task force to reduce the risk of corruption in Ukraine.

The seven countries that make up the inter-governmental G7 group have announced an anti-corruption task force for Ukraine.

The new task force will be coordinated by Japan. Its creation follows a meeting of senior legal figures from the G7 nations in Tokyo this month. The aim, according to the announcement of the task force, is to create a “flexible and inclusive platform” bringing together experts from Ukraine, the G7 members and international organisations.

The Anti-Corruption Task Force for Ukraine (or ACT for Ukraine) will work with the G7’s ambassadors in Ukraine and various offices at the United Nations. It will also work with partners engaged in the country’s attempt to join the EU.

ACT for Ukraine will “serve as a medium to share information and take stock of ongoing and planned anti-corruption initiatives in Ukraine, analyse the anti-corruption needs of Ukraine, and develop possible strategies, including the consideration of useful capacity building and/or technical assistance projects tailored to the needs of Ukraine’’, according to the announcement.

In a speech on the same day as the announcement, US Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has selected former federal prosecutor Jared Kimball to be its resident legal advisor in Kiev. He will focus on anti-corruption capacity building. She also proposed that he be the DOJ’s representative to the new G7 task force and urged member countries to nominate their own representatives. Kimball has worked with the DOJ for 16 years and has served as the resident legal advisor in Georgia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Indonesia.

The announcement of the task force comes at a time when US officials are said to be concerned about the risk of corruption in Ukraine because it is receiving billions in international aid due to the damage inflicted on it by the Russian invasion. Some estimates have stated that rebuilding Ukraine may require $750 billion.

There have also been allegations that corruption is already occurring. Investors in one ski resort in the Carpathian mountains are facing claims from politicians, lawyers, and non-governmental organisations that the project is actually being managed by two businessmen, Igor Kolomoisky and Gennadiy Bogolyubov. The two men are already the subject of legal action in the UK relating to allegations they illegally took more than £1.5 billion from a Ukrainian bank they used to own.