Gentlemen, who are you? What do the candidates` declarations for Chairman of National AntiCorruption Bureau prove?
On the anniversary of Yanukovych escape Transparency International Ukraine raised the issue of public
official`s declarations as an effective method to prevent political corruption. Analyzing declarations of
candidates for the position of Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Bureau activists demonstrated how to
reveal obvious corruption risks. As a result of the media campaign "Black Friday came for declarations" TI
Ukraine found that public officials aren`t ready voluntarily to provide information on their property
declarations. Therefore, the second round of the national monitoring campaign "Declaration without
decorations" was announced
Not all candidates for the position of Chairman for the National Anti-Corruption Bureau comply with the
law. Among the candidates there are people with dual citizenship, civil servants diminishing their real
income and claiming their family to own it. Some candidates doesn`t know how to correctly fill in the
declaration. Aforesaid data were announced during official press conference held on February 23 by
experts of Transparency International Ukraine. "Today the interview stage for the position of Chairman
of the Anti-Corruption Bureau kicks off. If candidate`s declarations cause questions as for their dubious
past activity, what will be the Head of the structure committed to fight corruption in the country? All
questions about corruption risks that we found while analyzing the declarations will be forwarded to the
respective Commission. If Commission consider questions posed by public and ask the candidates as for
wives-millionaire, living on the street because of the absence of any private accommodation or possible
involvement in corruption schemes - we will witness truly transparent process, "- said Andrew Marusov,
Chairman of TI Ukraine.
Five nominees for Chairman of National Anti-Corruption Bureau hiding "skeletons in the closet" (may
have questionable previous experience, as proved by information from public sources):
1. Anatoly Matios, Chief Military Prosecutor
During the Revolution of Dignity he held the post of deputy head of the Main Control Department of the
Administration of the President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych (November 2011 - February 2014).
His earnings are more than one hundred and thirty times smaller than the earnings of his wife (264,4
thousand against 34.7 million USD). This is very similar to the usual officials practice to transfer wealth
to family members.
2. Kirill Kulikov, Consultant Assistant of people`s deputy V.V.Klychko
Director of Interpol Bureau in Ukraine; MP from "Our Ukraine - People's Self-Defense", 2007-2012
“Fake” deputy": the day before the arrest of Yuriy Lutsenko left opposition and joined pro-government
"United Center". He lobbied legislative support for corrupt scheme of property assessment; voted for
appointment of Prosecutor General V.Pshonka. He used to travel with of police ID to avoid inspections
of road police. Media associated him with pro-Russian "luzhnikovskyi" group.
3. Yuri Trehubov "currently unemployed" from December 2012
Son of Olga Trehubov, Tymoshenko assistant, built up a career of prosecutor in Dnepropetrovsk.
As a MP from the “Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko” in 2007-2012 enjoyed flying for budget expense. Thus, in
the first quarter of 2011 he flew for more than 38.8 thousands exceeding the limit of 6.7 thousand
UAH.
4. Yuriy Sukhov, lawyer since 2010
He is former tax policeman, officer of the State Committee on Religion and Accounting Chamber, the
Government Commissioner on anti-corruption policy (2009-2010), member of the Union
"Motherland/Batkivshchyna".
In 2014 he earned only 5734 USD that was mentioned as "other income" while his wife made fortune of
more than 111 thousand USD.
In 2009, "Ukrainian Truth/Ukrainska Pravda" accused him of being connected to Odessa smugglers.
5. Basil Vovk, Head of Investigation Departmentn in Security Service of Ukraine
As graduate of the KGB School in 1988 he held senior positions in the State Customs Service and the
Security Service.
To put it mildly, he was a “victim” of numerous "compromises" he was forced to take during almost 30
years’ service in the national authorities.
- No officials or government institutions are ready to conduct fair and accountable policy yet.
This, in particular, is the results shown in media campaign "Black Friday came for declarations"
where chief officials of the country (the President, Prime Minister, Attorney General, the
President of the National Bank, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, judges
and all the ministers) received TI Ukraine requests to provide information on their property
declarations for 2014. No heroes were found. Activists received none of declarations as the law
provides them to be submitted by April 1. 12 Though if the government agencies provided at
least some official response to the information requests (ex.: Presidential Administration,
Cabinet Secretariat, Constitutional Court, Superior Court, Superior Commercial Court, High
Specialized Court for Civil and Criminal Cases, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Economy,
Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Information, Ministry of Justice), the
other 13 directly violated the rule of law "On access to public information" ignoring the appeals.
Absolutely no response was provided by the National Security and Defense Council, Superior
Administrative Court of Ukraine, Prosecutor General's Office, the National Bank and 9 ministries.
The purpose of this action, as said by Olga Timchenko, Head of communications in TI Ukraine, was to
update the issue of political corruption, demonstrate that civil society is seeking to remind the
government on its obligation to publicly declare their income: "To eradicate corruption from
government we need merely use the mechanism of public declaration as is prescribed by law. We act
immediately on two fronts: put pressure on authorities so that to develop "reporting reflex" and
motivate citizens to use officials declarations to identify corruption risks. "
Transparency International Ukraine announced the second round of monitoring campaign "Declaration
without decorations" in order to stimulate and keep under public control culture of public
accountability. During monitoring campaign declaration by officials of local and district level, judges,
presidents, ministers, heads of state services, regional administrations, mayors of regional centers, as
well as all their deputies were analyzed.
5 lifestyle components will be tested, collected, analyzed and published on www.anticorruption.in.ua :
the official income, hobby, travel and vacation, employee and his family member`s education, personal
and real estate. "As a result of last year's monitoring campaign there were discovered more than 60
corrupted officials. They were not punished due to flaws in the previous law - said Anatoly Stoyan,
national coordinator of the monitoring campaign "Declaration without decorations ". “This is the reason
why we focused on the development and promotion of a new law establishing tougher regulatory
mechanism to file declarations and manage conflict of interest. Under this law, providing false data in
declarations can be regarded as illegal enrichment of public officials resulting in imprisonment up to two
years. Moreover, this is the first time when state agency provides monitoring mechanism of public
officials` lifestyles. It was TI Ukraine with its partners who first monitored lifestyle of top officials based
on its own methodology".
The first results of the monitoring campaign “Declaration without decorations" will be presented no
later than May 2015 and will include analysis of civil servants` declarations of I-II categories of central
government agencies for 2014.
Note: Under the law, all Ukrainian civil servants are obliged to publicize their declarations listing income,
assets and one-time expenses exceeding 80 thousand UAH until April 1 of each year. Under the
amended law "On Prevention of Corruption", adopted on October 14, 2014 under the pressure of NGOs
officials` declaration will be accumulated in an open electronic Unified State Register. Given this register
is scheduled to start functioning no earlier than 2016, TI Ukraine declares the proper control will be held
over transition period for public authorities to report on their earnings to public.
In 2013-2014 during the national monitoring campaign "Declaration without decorations" Transparency
International Ukraine gathered over 400 civil servants declarations and compared them with official`s
actual lifestyle. The campaign resulted in discovering more than 60 corrupted officials.
The event is supported by the International Fund “Renaissance” and Democracy Fund of the US
Embassy in Ukraine.
Contact for media: Olga Tymchenko,
Head of Communication Department,
Transparency International Ukraine
phone: 050-352-96-18; 044 360-52-42,
e-mail: tymchenko@ti-ukraine.org
м.т. 050-352-96-18, р.т. 044 -52-42,
e-mail: tymchenko@ti-ukraine.org
www.ti-ukraine.org
Note: Transparency International Ukraine is a
national chapter of Transparency International,
anti-corruption NGO with over 90 national
chapters; which works in more than 100
countries. TI Ukraine’s mission is to limit the
increase of corruption in Ukraine by promoting
transparency, accountability and integrity in
public authorities and civil society. You can learn
more about the organization’s activity on the
website www.ti-ukraine.org.