COUNTERING CORRUPTION IN THE ACTIVITIES OF UKRAINE'S LAW ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITIES AS AN INSTRUMENT FOR PROTECTING THE ECONOMIC INTERESTS OF THE STATE
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Abstract
The subject of the study is the legal basis for combatting corruption within the activities of Ukraine's law enforcement agencies, and how this protects the state's economic interests. Corruption is examined not only as a breach of official discipline or anti-corruption legislation, but also as a factor that can directly impact public finances, state property, asset recovery, business activity and confidence in law enforcement institutions. This approach reveals the property-related, budgetary and institutional dimensions of corruption. The study's methodology is based on formal legal, systemic, structural-functional, comparative-analytical and economic-legal methods. These methods were applied to combine the analysis of legal rules with an assessment of the actual economic consequences of corruption risks in law enforcement. Particular attention is paid to powers relating to access to information, responses to economic criminal offences, the obtaining of evidence, the seizure of property, the recovery of assets, interactions with businesses, financial control and internal official discipline. A structural-logical approach is employed to demonstrate the relationship between official powers, opportunities for corruption, and economic consequences for the state. The purpose of the article is to demonstrate that combatting corruption within law enforcement activities should be considered a distinct approach to safeguarding the state's economic interests. To this end, the article discloses the content of corruption risks, defines their connection with budgetary, property-related and economic losses, characterises personnel and organisational factors, and proposes directions for improving anti-corruption mechanisms with regard to the economic outcome. The study concludes that the effectiveness of anti-corruption measures cannot be assessed based solely on the number of offences detected, internal investigations conducted, or liability measures taken. Rather, the decisive criterion should be the system's capacity to prevent budgetary losses, the unlawful disposal of state property, the concealment of assets, pressure on businesses, and the weakening of investment confidence. The necessity of risk-oriented internal control, the proper protection of whistleblowers, transparent personnel selection and economic indicators for assessing anti-corruption activity is substantiated. Therefore, anti-corruption mechanisms in the law enforcement sphere must perform a preventive economic function, as well as a punitive or disciplinary one, in order to preserve public resources and support state resilience.
How to Cite
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corruption, law enforcement sphere, law enforcement authorities, economic interests of the state, public finance, budgetary resources, conflict of interest, anti-corruption policy, state control, official powers
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