Individual Corruption

According to the US Department of State 2010, corruption and impunity are pervasive in the Ukrainian police force. Traffic police, in particular, are notorious for soliciting bribes. In spite of efforts to reduce bribe taking by traffic police further, such as pay raises to traffic police officers, citizens continue to report being solicited to pay bribes. Similarly, in Transparency International's Global Corruption Barometer 2010, households consider the police to be among the most corrupt public institutions in Ukraine. Police often levy spurious, informal fines for traffic and other minor violations. According to the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology survey Cost of Corruption for Ukrainian Households and the Kharkov Institute of Social Research survey Corruption in Traffic Patrol conducted in 2007, bribes to traffic police are a given and, in addition, more than half of the respondents believe that traffic police often solicit bribes and that bribery has remained unchanged over the past year, as reported in a 2008 article by Kyiv Post.

According to the US Department of State 2010, in the first nine months of 2010, more than 600 criminal cases of corruption were opened against law enforcement officers. Criminal cases involving 10 prosecutors and over 300 police officers were forwarded to court.

Business Corruption

Police extortion of companies is not uncommon. Also, according to the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report 2011-2012, the Ukrainian police cannot be consistently relied upon to enforce law and order. This is corroborated by the World Bank & IFC Enterprise Surveys 2008, which reveals that more than half of the surveyed companies pay for security in Ukraine, while a slightly smaller part identifies crime, theft and disorder as major constraints to doing business in the country.

According to the Atlantic Council of the United States 2007, numerous Ukrainian companies have been subjected to 'corporate raids'. In this practice, a company is infiltrated by agents of 'raiders' who gather information about the company and purchase a small share of its stock. Then a lawsuit is filed with a lower level court in a remote local jurisdiction. The court then issues an injunction, which is used by a pseudo security company to take possession of the company properties. Police are bribed to allow the security company to retain control over the raided company. They then try to sell the property and buy it themselves or to sell it to those ordering the raid. They then change the composition of the company charter. This scheme is able to continue because of the lack of punishment for persons engaging in such schemes. According to the US Department of State 2008, it is reported that these corporate raids have led to the illegal seizure of as many as 2,500 companies over the previous several years.

Political Corruption

The traffic police (DAI) are known to form one of the most corrupt institutions in Ukraine. The institution was dissolved and restructured into two separate entities in 2005. According to the Ukrainian weekly Zerkalo Nedeli, it is questionable whether the restructuring has led to fewer bribes being paid on Ukrainian roads. In November 2007, former President Yushchenko lashed out at the DAI for extorting bribes from motorists for minor offences. He criticised mid-level police officers for pressuring street officers to take bribes and for taking a cut of the bribes themselves. In a similar vein, a 2008 article by ITAR-TASS reports that Yushchenko accused the bodies of state power, particularly law enforcement bodies, in April 2008 of being the sphere in which corruption occurs most frequently.

According to Global Integrity 2009, the law enforcement agencies are not protected from political interference. Likewise, appointments to the police are seldom based on professional criteria, and party loyalties or personal relationships are often considered. Moreover, some law enforcement officials, most often high-level figures, reportedly enjoy protection from criminal investigations.

Frequency

World Economic Forum: The Global Competitiveness Report 2011-2012:
- Business executives give the reliability of Ukrainian police services to enforce law and order a score of 3 on a 7-point scale (1 'cannot be relied upon at all' and 7 'can always be relied upon').

Transparency International: Global Corruption Barometer 2010:
- Citizens give the police a score of 4.3 on a 5-point scale (1 'not at all corrupt' and 5 'extremely corrupt').

- Almost 30% of households who had contact with the police in 2009 report to have paid a bribe.

The World Bank & IFC: Enterprise Surveys 2008:
- More than 55% of the surveyed companies pay for security in Ukraine.

- Over 43% of companies surveyed identify crime, theft and disorder as a major constraint on doing business.

MSI & KIIS: Corruption in Ukraine 2007:
- The traffic police (DAI) was regarded as widely corrupt by 57% of the respondents in this household survey.

- 39% of the respondents who had interacted with the DAI, stated that they were required to pay bribes when violating traffic rules, and 25% gave the money voluntarily.

- Only 32% did not pay the bribe or refused to be extorted.

- 54% perceived the police as a whole to be widely corrupt.