A lesson from Estonia - fighting corruption in Ukraine takes time

Edgar Savisaar, the mayor of  Tallinn, is suspected in
taking bribes and also in taking money form Russia.

Those who are worried about the level of corruption in Ukraine should understand that it takes time to fight it. More than grand announcements Ukraine needs to liberalize it's economy, strengthen democracy and build institutions.

In 2015 Estonian score in Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index was 70, while the cleanest country, Denmark, scored 91 out of 100. Estonia is the highest scoring ex-communist country and has better score than Portugal, Spain or Italy. Ukraine on the other hand scores just 27 points, indicating a high level of corruption. Ukraine is on a par with countries like Iran, Nepal, Nicaragua and Paraguay. Ukraine is even more corrupt than Russia. So one would expect that Estonia has a lot to teach to Ukraine about fighting corruption.

Soviet Union was a corrupted place but it wasn't as bad as Ukraine or Russia now. When it imploded in 1991 Estonia and Ukraine went different into different directions - Estonia become less, Ukraine more corrupted.

In the beginning in Estonia it wasn't really about fighting corruption, but about liberalization to join the West. The push for liberalization also helped to limit corruption. Liberalization itself was about efficiency and modernization because a minimalist state was easier to run.

Corruption in politics and public sector remained a serious issue in the 90s. Privatization scandals were common. Tiit Vähi, a prime minister in the 90s, lost his job because one corruption scandal. Once he was no longer in politics he turned out to be an owner of a large company called Silmet that was privatized while he was in office. Nothing happened about this or other major corruption scandals of the 90s. The politicians were untouchables. The prosecutors office was under political influence. The internal security service Kapo was operating at least partly outside of the law.

It got better when Estonia joined the European Union. Estonia had strengthened law enforcement and in the decade between 2000-2010 there were several corruption cases against civil servants. Convictions in corruption cases were no longer rare.  In 2008 25 traffic police officers of Harju county were convicted in taking bribes. Before it anti-corruption officials had in two major operations charged dozens of traffic police officers of Harju county for taking bribes. After they all were indicted the Harju county that includes the capital Tallinn for some time had almost no functional traffic police because most previous officers were waiting for trial for corruption.

In 2010 Villu Reiljan, a former minister of environment, was convicted in corruption. He was the first former minister in Estonia who was convicted for a crime he committed in office. It took 19 years of independence to convict someone of his stature. In 2014 he was once more convicted for corruption for a crime he committed as minister. He is now once more indicted for a third case of corruption, this time for intermediating a bribe.

Yet corruption remains a serious issue. Everything associated with cars is still rife with corruption. It is still possible to buy a driving license or pay your way through vehicle inspection even though corruption is in these days more hidden than before.

It was only in this decade that Estonia started seriously tackling political corruption. In 2012 there was a major scandal about funding of the ruling Reform party. There were several scandals about influence peddling, also often about the Reform party. Then in 2015 leader of the Center party, Edgar Savisaar, was charged with corruption for taking bribes as a mayor of Tallinn.

So why did it take so long in Estonia to fight political corruption and what has made fighting corruption possible now? It's about several actors working in tandem. The first is development of law enforcement agencies that prioritize fighting corruption and are no longer afraid of targeting politically influential people. Building up such capacities takes time.

The second is political pluralism. The dominant Reform party and Center party have attempted to manipulate rules in their favor and to cement their hold on power with public money. Yet their power has always been limited because all governments have been multi-party governments. This matters. When the state prosecutor Heili Sepp started investigating Reform party finances in 2012 the Reform party was very vicious in their criticism of her and they didn't deny their desire to destroy her career. They didn't succeed because she was able to work in institutions not controlled by the Reform party.

It also helps to have a free press and outside actors independent of political power. The Autorollo scandal that forced the former minister of foreign affairs Keit Pentus-Rosimannus (also from the Reform party) to leave office was uncovered by a businessman who lost money in the bankruptcy of the trucking company Autorollo. It was an investigation financed by him that uncovered a lot of dirty details and clear signs of influence peddling in the wheeling and dealing around that company that cost the tax-payer 325 000 euros.

Ukraine has the benefit of a strong civil society that is pushing for reforms. Emergence of a strong political force that campaigns against corruption has always been important in fighting corruption. The anti-corruption fighters in Ukraine should avoid pushing for individual indictments and concentrate on building efficient institutions. An anti-corruption agency would be great, it has worked well in Latvia and Romania. Yet the best cure against corruption is a well functioning modern state that no longer has any soviet pockets nowhere in public administration.