US Honors Ukrainian Ex-Prosecutor General With Anticorruption Champions Award - State Dept

The United States honored Ukraine's former Prosecutor General Ruslan Ryaboshapka among a dozen others by granting them awards for combating corruption, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced on Tuesday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd February, 2021) The United States honored Ukraine's former Prosecutor General Ruslan Ryaboshapka among a dozen others by granting them awards for combating corruption, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced on Tuesday.

"As President (Joe) Biden has emphasized, our commitment to truth, transparency, and accountability is a mission that we must live at home and exemplify abroad," Blinken said in a statement. "I commend the dedication of these 12 brave individuals to these same ideals."�

Along with Ryaboshapka, the honorees include Albania's Chief Justice Ardian Dvorani, Ecuadorean Attorney General Diana Salazar, Micronesia's State Public Auditor Sophia Pretrick and Guatemalan Prosecutor Juan Francisco Sandoval Alfaro and Director General for Electronic Payments at the Central Bank of Iraq Dhuha A. Mohammed.

Also among those honored were activists Ibrahima Kalil Gueye of Guinea and Anjali Bhardwaj of India, investigative journalist Bolot Temirov of the Kyrgyz Republic, Chairman of Libya's National Oil Corporation Mustafa Abdullah Sanalla, Mayor Victor Sotto of The Philippines and Commissioner of Sierra Leone's Anti-Corruption Commission Francis Ben Kaifala, Blinken said.

"The Biden Administration recognizes that we will only be successful in combating these issues by working in concert with committed partners, including courageous individuals who champion anticorruption efforts and countries working to fulfill their commitments to international anticorruption standards," he said. "For that reason, I am announcing a new International Anticorruption Champions Award, recognizing individuals who have worked tirelessly, often in the face of adversity, to defend transparency, combat corruption, and ensure accountability in their own countries."

Blinken noted that the United States was the first country to criminalize foreign bribery and has worked with partners in other countries worldwide to recover and return more than $1 billion in stolen public assets in the past two years.

In March, the Ukrainian parliament passed a vote of no-confidence in Prosecutor General Ruslan Ryaboshapka, triggering his resignation.