The Group of Seven (G7) justice ministers announced a joint task force to thwart corruption in Ukraine.

Under Japanese leadership, the Anti-Corruption Task Force (ACT) for Ukraine will “help Ukraine strengthen the rule of law and fight corruption,” said U.S. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco in remarks to G7 dignitaries in Tokyo on Friday.

The task force aims to “share information and take stock of ongoing and planned anti-corruption initiatives in Ukraine, analyze the anti-corruption needs of Ukraine, and develop possible strategies,” the G7 ministers said in a declaration.

For more than a decade, said Monaco, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) international police capacity building unit has been working to assemble a police force that is “community-focused and committed to democratic policing” in Ukraine.

Through ACT for Ukraine and other task forces, including the international Russian Elites, Proxies, and Oligarchs Task Force; the European Union’s Freeze & Seize Task Force; and the U.S.’s Task Force KleptoCapture, the G7 hopes to enforce sanctions, export restrictions, and economic countermeasures against Russia, Monaco said.

“We have restrained over $500 million in assets of Russian oligarchs and others who prop up the Russian regime and have evaded U.S. economic countermeasures,” she said. “We have indicted over 30 individuals accused of sanctions evasion, export control violations, money laundering, and other crimes.”

Monaco also touted that with the help of international partners, arrests have been made in more than half a dozen countries, with a view toward extradition to the United States.

Jeff Dale is Managing Editor, Editorial Projects and Analytics, at Compliance Week. He previously served as Compliance Week's Digital Editor and has worked as a copy editor at the Boston Herald and city editor at The Hour Publishing Co. in Norwalk, Conn.View full Profile

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