Politics for Sale: West Admits Money the Only Power to Matter in Ukraine

As it turns out, it is very hard for President Poroshenko to shed his businesslike nature, as he prefers making business deals even in politics; the head of the European Business Association in Ukraine says that the President and Prime Minister have been selling seats in the country’s parliament for as much as $3 to $10 million.

Tomas Fiala, the head of the European Business Association in Ukraine and the founder and principal shareholder of Dragon Capital Group, an investment bank in Ukraine, have said that President Poroshenko and Prime Minister Yatsenyuk have been selling seats in the parliament for a price of somewhere between $3 and $10 million.

In his interview with the German news outlet Der Spiegel, the businessman said the buyers are the business people who want to lobby their interests from within the walls of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament.  The politicians, in turn, use the money to finance their own election campaigns.

Fiala explained that Yatsenyuk simply lacks his own money for the purpose. Poroshenko, on the other hand, is keen on not losing money on his political career, holding tight onto his fortune.

As the result, both have become hostage to a sadly established system of bribery and corruption.

They put forward decent people, such as military heroes and people with good reputations as the frontrunners for their parties, but the rest of the seats those parties obtain in the elections are sold off to the highest bidder.

The investment banker says that these are well known facts in Ukraine, and admitted to by both sides in private discussions. If the Attorney General's office were truly independent from any political influence, it would not be difficult to investigate these allegations.

Earlier this year Fiala criticized the leadership of President Poroshenko and Prime Minister Yatsenyuk, citing an old Russian saying: "the fish rots from the head". In other words, the corruption that is rampant in the country emanates from the very top of the political ladder.

Interestingly enough, the US-based magazine Foreign Policy had a similar diagnosis of Ukraine’s new government, which only last year touted itself as being a radical, revolutionary solution to the problems that have plagued the country since its independence.

In its latest edition, the journal strongly criticized the failure of the President to deliver on his electoral promise to tackle corruption in the country.

“The grim reality is that the real rot within the Ukrainian state has always begun at the top, from a corrupt and cynical nexus of high-ranking politicians and business magnates — and it is precisely here that Poroshenko’s efforts are failing to gain traction,” it reads.

“Ukraine’s reforms are not threatened by the kind of petty bribery common to many countries, but by high-level corruption on a scale so great that only three out of 15 countries in the former USSR have worse records, according to the anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International.”

“The central problem is the president’s failure to follow through on his promises to combat the pervasive influence of the oligarchs — politically well-connected business tycoons whose domination of key sectors of the economy is amplified by their ownership of influential media assets,” it therefore states.

The magazine also warned that “Ukrainians are growing increasingly disillusioned, nationalist populists are gaining popularity and calling for Poroshenko’s ouster.”

What it will lead to still remains to be seen.