MOSCOW (Sputnik) – According to the minister, the Ukrspetszem head was detained along with an accomplice and had $86,000 of the bribe money on her when the arrest was made. The investigation continues.
"The director of the Kiev Ukrspetszem – The State Agency for Land Resources of Ukraine — was extorting a bribe of $200,000 for giving a certificate for the permanent use of 4 hectares of land in the Obukhovsk district. She received the first $100,000," Avakov wrote on his Facebook page late on Thursday.
Ukraine ranks 142 out of 175 countries on Transparency International's corruption index.
Ukrainian parliament member, Oleksiy Skrypnyk, said during a panel meeting at the US National Democratic Institute (NDI) in February that corruption is so endemic in Ukraine that it has become a "style of governance" in the country.
Ukraine was ranked near the bottom of the Transparency International corruption index in 2014. It was also ranked as the most corrupt country in Europe.
