A new corruption scandal has recently broken out in Belarus: sugar factories’ management is allegedly involved in corruption schemes. This is another yet story of bribery-related arrests in the last years. The number of corruption crimes reported by the prosecutor general has been significantly growing. Reducing corruption in Belarus requires systematic liberalization and democratic reforms rather than strengthening Lukashenka’s image of an anti-corruption fighter.
‘Sweet’ schemes
On January 24, a crew operating the flight from Minsk to Munich received a command to return to the nearest Belarusian airport. In Hrodna, a group of passengers was taken off the plane. A few days later, it became known that the director of the sugar factory in Haradzeya was among those removed. After a short time, there were reports that the directors of three other sugar factories (those of Skidzel, Slutsk, and Zhabinka) were detained for allegedly participating in a corruption scheme.
The first official comments from authorities came only eleven days after the detention of the sugar factories’ senior executives. President Lukashenka said that the return of the flight was authorized by him and personally disclosed the details of the scheme. The court has yet to prove the guilt of the detainees, but the authorities are already using this story with might and main to show off the implacable fight against corruption.
Corruption in Belarus
Transparency International’s recent corruption perception index puts Belarus on 66th place out of 180 countries. To compare, Russia occupies 137th position, Ukraine – 126th, Poland – 41st. In 2009, Belarus took 139th position in the same ranking. In the last ten years, more corruption cases were revealed while Belarus received significantly better scores.
At the same time, many spheres continue to be strongly affected by corruption. It is flourishing especially in state-owned enterprises and factories, many of which are loss-making. Almost every year there emerges a bribery scandal, involving high-flyers working for state-run enterprises. As an example, in 2016, three top-managers of refining company Naftan received criminal sentences from 7 to 12 years for bribery, currently, the prosecutor general requested to lengthen the term. In 2019, a number of heads of health institutions were arrested on charges of corruption.
Lukashenka’s story
The fight against corruption was one of Lukashenka’s main messages when he came to power in 1994. In particular, even when he was a member of parliament, he accused Stanislau Shushkevich, a well-known Belarusian politician and the then Chairman of the Supreme Council, of stealing… a box of nails.
But soon after his inauguration, former MP Syarhei Antonchyk made a report about corruption in President’s inner circle. In the wake of it, several leading Belarusian newspapers came out with blank spots on their pages. The editors who were about to publish the report were forbidden to do so, following the order of Lukashenka who was not eager to tarnish his own image.
In 2019, Lukashenka signed a decree to strengthen combatting against corruption, according to which people accused of corruption are deprived of the right to be released on parole. Nevertheless, the number of corruption cases in the country is not decreasing. The state-controlled economy leaves too many temptations for corruption schemes based on state monopoly, non-transparency of the public procurement system.
Nonetheless, anti-corruption rhetoric is in focus of many of the president’s public statements.
“Corruption eats everything. This is rust. Our people are accustomed to justice, and will never forgive the heads of theft, embezzlement, bribery and other corruption,” said Lukashenka.
Even though Belarus occupied quite low positions in the ranking of Transparency International up until 2015-16, the public discourse of fighting corruption has always been there. National TV often shows Lukashenka giving a hard time to officials, but he rarely expresses himself when it comes to bigger corruption schemes.
Can corruption in Belarus be defeated?
To improve Belarus’s success in managing corruption, the country needs a systematic approach, including self-governance and ‘various reforms of the state rather than isolated populist activities’, says Hanna Krasulina. a member of the United Civic Party’s political board).
Making the system open and transparent by publishing the state-owned enterprises’ reports online would serve as a way to monitor corruption and allow for preventing corruption. Additionally, signing Integrity Pacts (a tool developed by Transparency International for preventing corruption) may have a positive effect on the corruption level in Belarus, suggests political analyst Ryhor Astapenya.
According to Transparency International, democratic countries are prone to lower corruption levels. The democratization of Belarus is the most decisive factor that can help overcome corruption. The question here is whether Lukashenka really aims to fight corruption or sees bribery scandals as a way to gain more support before the presidential election 2020? If it is the latter, democratization is not an option that Lukashenka seriously considers.
Alesia Rudnik for belsat.eu
