- Ukraine is offering a 10% reward to whistleblowers who report corruption, local media reported.
- Successful cases could see whistleblowers receive up to $380,000.
Ukraine is launching a whistleblower hotline against corruption that will see a chunk of the ill-gotten gains handed straight to the person who reports it, Ukrinform reported.
The country's National Agency of Corruption Prevention announced on Tuesday that it is to launch a public platform, providing a digital portal for people to report suspected corruption.
On Ukrainian state TV, the agency's head Oleksandr Novikov added an incentive to anyone thinking of reporting corruption: the prospect of 10% of the proceeds of any successful case, according to Ukrinform. The portal is due to launch in September, he said.
This reward — up to a maximum of 14 million hryvnias ($380,000) — would be the first-ever whistleblower reward offered in Ukraine, the outlet reported.
An anti-corruption drive is underway in Ukraine, where a recent poll showed 89% of Ukrainians believe it is the country's worst problem after the Russian invasion.
That's also a political problem for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who according to a further poll, is considered by 77% of the population to be to blame for corruption in governmental and military institutions, as Interfax-Ukraine reported.
The issue filters into Ukraine's ability to defend itself: A recent report in The Guardian, which described a man who paid $5,000 to avoid being drafted to fight, suggests bribe-taking in military recruitment is a major problem.
Earlier in August, Zelenskyy conducted a purge of regional military administrators, saying that "cynicism and bribery during war is high treason."
The European Union has long emphasized that tackling corruption is a key condition to Ukraine being able to join. The NACP, whose latest initiative was developed with EU support, is one of three bodies devoted to rooting out corruption in the country.