Yaugen Lipkovich: Belarus suffers from systematic corruption

Recent courts on high-ranked officials charged with criminal acts testify about the desire of the state to create an imaginary fight on corruption.

This opinion shared in the talk with the EuroBelarus Information Service a famous blogger Yaugen Lipkovich.

Let us recall that on February, 11 was announced a sentence to the former first deputy chairman of Minsk State Executive Committee Igar Vasiĺeu – 14 years of imprisonment with deprivation of property for acceptance of a grand bribe by a person holding a position of responsibility.

Supreme Court also has a hearing on the former deputy chairman of foreign affairs Yaugen Paludnia, who is charged with a prolonged bribery in form of material and cash assets from the officials working in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

It is the society that hires the officials, not the President

“All this is nonsense and showing-off with an implication that “we try to catch someone, we have sleepless nights”. But on the whole, the corruption we face is systematic. The prices for bribes are known to all citizens, and no one is afraid of bribing”, - assumes Yaugen Lipkovich.

It is noteworthy that both the above mentioned proceedings are going on behind closed doors. “Perhaps it means that some bitter facts are coming out in these cases, so they conceal them”, - assumed Yaugen Lipkovich.

The fact that corruption in the country has systematic character is confirmed with the recent exposures in the President’s executive office, which has been already involved in corruption scandals earlier. “Why round their eyes now, pretending they never knew how it could have happened?! – the blogger is puzzled. – Well, this is a standard situation: you, officials, play some secret games and divide something”.

Even the head of the Belarusan government is no example, noted Yaugen Lipkovich: “When Miasnikovich demonstrated his wristwatch for $37,000, what can we even talk about? Where does the money come from?”

The blogger believes that the most effective way to fight corruption is by obliging the officials to make their income statement public known. “The Ministry of Justice has one absolutely sound initiative about publications of the income statements of the officials in the Internet. It is absolutely normal, as it is society that hires the officials, not the President. Well, we hire the President, too”, - recalled Yaugen Lipkovich.

Anticorruption declarations

At the same time he noted that “this process is being retarded at the highest level”. Yaugen Lipkovich also told about his experience of analyzing income declarations in the period when he was nominated for the Minsk City Council. “Once in a number of years we get opportunity to see how much the officials earn. It happens when they go to the polls. And the deputy in my district not only wasn’t registered in my district, but also had only half a garage in his ownership – nothing except that! Can such an official be trusted?” – wonders the blogger.

Thus, as soon as we adopt the provision that makes the officials demonstrate their income statements, it will mean that the state started real fight on corruption, highlighted Yaugen Lipkovich.