Ukraine anti-graft chief quits, cites lack of 'political will'

A crusading journalist who rose to become Ukraine's anti-corruption chief said today she was quitting due to a "lack of political will" to tackle graft from the ex-Soviet state's leaders.
Tetyana Chornovol said she was stepping down as head of Kiev's National Anti-Corruption Committee, just six months after being appointed amid widespread hopes of a clampdown on Ukraine's endemic corruption after the ouster of former leader Viktor Yanukovych.
"Ukraine does not have the political will for an uncompromising and large-scale war against corruption," she wrote in a blog announcing her decision.
Chornovol, who was severely beaten in December after she took a leading role in the anti-Yanukovych protests, said that her time in charge of the anti-graft body had been "in vain".

Ukraine's new leadership has come under growing pressure for failing to deliver on a campaign promise against the corruption that has plagued the country since its independence in 1991.
A draft law to purge officials with links to Yanukovych's infamously corrupt administration has been stalled by lawmakers fearful that they may be targeted for prosection.
Chornovol's husband, Mykola Berezovy, was killed August 10 fighting for a volunteer battalion against pro-Russian rebels in the east of the country.