Executive summary The Organized Crime Observatory (OCO), a Swiss-­‐based NGO, is undertaking a comprehensive assessment of organized crime and public corruption in Ukraine. This research began two months ago and is expected to conclude by September 2014.

The objective of this research project is to validate a methodology of assessing the impact of corruption and organized crime on the country and its institutions in order to provide fact-­‐based evidence and analysis for policy makers.

The first intermediary report of the assessment presents the following key findings:

1) Ukraine seems not to be any more, as it has been often described, the « organized crime country ». For many reasons, the importance of organized crime groups is strongly decreasing.

2) Public corruption and conflict of interests remains a significant problem for Ukraine on its path toward the development of institutionalisation. Any party engaging with Ukraine will have to interact with groups that are linked to oligarchic structures. We however observed a trend to a stronger verticalization of power driven by President Yanukovitch.

3) Illegal activities and trafficking remain at a high level in Ukraine. Some of these activities have existed for many years, including narcotic and people trafficking. Others such as corporate raiding and corporate fraud are relatively new developments in the country.

4) Counterfeiting and cyber security are the two major causes of concerns for the Ukrainian law enforcement agencies over the coming years. We have observed an increasing of such activities with some strong international presence.

5) …

View the full report : OCO PRESS CONFERENCE_version2