Ukraine: Widespread corruption in professional sports
Bribery and mismanagement of funds permeate the world of professional sports. Ellen Andersen reports from this year’s Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Kyiv
By Ellen Andersen
“In sports that can generate huge amounts of money, organised crime is always involved”, said the German journalist Jürgen Roth who has conducted several investigations on the subject.
Most big soccer clubs in Ukraine are in the hands of criminal groups says Roth citing German players who have left or fled Ukrainian clubs after encountering gun toting coaches and very oppressed co-players.
But also Germany has its share of problems. The German authorities try to protect the big clubs from legal investigations, Roth said, lamenting what he sees as a general lack of interest among journalists in covering the links between organised crime and big money sports.
1 wooden bench: 8.000 US$
In 2007, Ukraine and Poland were appointed hosts of Euro 2012, the European soccer championship which takes place next year. But in 2009, the Ukrainian preparations were in a shambles until the Union of European Football Associations, UEFA threatened to move the championship to another country.
Since then, the preparations have gathered speed – and the expenses have ballooned.
Ukrainian investigative journalist Mark Rachkevych of Kyiv Post explained how the government’s action plan for the preparations has been changed on average twice a month since 2009. The cost to the taxpayers will be 14 billion USD, doubling the government’s initial estimate.
Part of the explanation is that instead of selecting contractors for the various infrastructure projects via open bidding, the government has handpicked companies in a closed process.
Mark Rachkevych gave an example of the consequences: 10 wooden benches in the metro in Kyiv had cost 8.000 USD – each. Looking closer, he found that the contract had been awarded to a company with no experience of any kind of woodwork. It normally produces manholes for sewers.
“You can imagine what bribes have been paid in the process”, he said.
