uralpolit.ru
Public funds are withdrawn from the public sector enterprises through offshore shell companies to reduce their value before the start of privatization in Ukraine, the press service of National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) reported referring to the NABU Director Artem Sytnyk.
"Why do we pay much attention to corruption in state-owned enterprises? Because of privatization. Public funds are being withdrawn through offshore shell companies, which leads to a decrease in the value of state-owned enterprises to be privatized. Our goal is to prevent this," the press service quoted Sytnyk as saying.
In addition, Sytnyk noted that after completion of the privatization, an audit should be carried out.
The NABU director also said that the reduction in losses of SOEs suggests a positive progress in the fight against corruption.
Read alsoRada supports in 1st reading bill to facilitate grand privatizationAs UNIAN reported earlier, the Verkhovna Rada on January 28 supported a bill to amend the privatization procedure. In particular, the proposed bill aimed to abolish the existing regulation regarding an obligatory sale of 5%-10% of the shares of state-owned strategic entities on stock exchanges.
Minister of Economic Development and Trade Aivaras Abromavicius had repeatedly called on parliamentarians to support the bill. According to him, its adoption would contribute to the transparent privatization, and would also help determine the date for selling the state-owned share in one of the largest manufacturers of chemical products – Odesa Portside Chemical Plant (OPP).
In January-June 2015, the losses of top-100 SOEs decreased by 87% year-over-year to UAH 5.8 billion.