Bribery Grows in Ukraine

I think if you live in Ukraine, at one time or another you have seen bribery.  Whether its you, your friend, or  a person you just see on the street.  So many people are used to it already, but the main problem is that it keeps growing.  It is very difficult of get something done without bribery.  Think about it.  If you have a choice between getting paid and getting paid + a bribe, which person would you help more?

The article below outlines how bribery has risen with growing inflation.  60% of bribery cases involve real estate.  A large amount of the rest has to do with education and medical institutions.

Bribery in Ukraine grows together with inflation

The sum of bribes grows daily in Ukraine. The last year, the amount of "extra money" to the official was at about 3,000 US dollars. For the previous 5 months of the year, it grew to 6,000 US dollars, and reached 14,000 US dollars for the previous month. 

For 1 month, the Ukrainian officials received twice more bribes than for the previous 5 months. In January-May 2008, the total amount of bribes was 18 million hryvnias. But in a month the State service for combating economical crime announced new figure - 56.3 million hryvnias. Besides, if compared to the last year, the number of bribes exceeding 10,000 hryvnias increased in 2 times and exceeding 30,000 hryvnias – in 3 times. 

The figures in the statistic documents of MIA and SSU are the result of high attention to this problem, because corruption is officially recognized as the threat to national safety and the law machinery began a real hunting for corrupted officials. But the more important are the other reasons: economical, legal and social, as Pravda-Ukraine reports. 

"Bribery - is a tax, an additional tax on all economical activities," - the definition given by President of the Centre of economical development Oleksandr Paskhaver. It is so hard to disagree. Both SSU and MIA admit that the sums of bribes grow proportionally to the price growth for land and real estate. 

It is not surprisingly: "rewards" for a land plot or for the rent comprise 60% of all bribery cases. The rest is bribery in educational and medical institutions, and in the sphere of entertainment. 

Although, the main reason for the growing bribery and corruption is a silent consent for this phenomenon in the society. Thus, according to the national research of corruption in Ukraine, made by USAID (the US Agency on International Development), 67% of Ukrainians, which deal with the state officials, are involved in the corruption actions.
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Have you ever witnessed bribery?