The areas with the highest concentration of corruption practices and risks in Poltava region are public procurement, reconstruction, environmental protection and the use of natural resources. At the same time, the lack of development of basic anti-corruption tools, particularly at the level of local authorities, reduces the ability to effectively counter these risks.
This was stated by Mykola Korneliuk, Deputy Head of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP), during his working visit to Poltava.
NACP representatives discussed ways to minimise corruption with the leadership of the Poltava Regional Military Administration (RMA), regional and city councils, and law enforcement agencies in the region. As the decentralisation and reconstruction processes contribute to the concentration of significant resources at the local level, the systematic implementation of the state anti-corruption policy, taking into account regional specifics, becomes a prerequisite for the sustainability and development of communities.
One of the most problematic areas in Poltava region is public procurement. Based on the results of the audit conducted in 2024, the NACP identified a number of corruption risks in the activities of the Poltava City Council, including procurement in the absence of justified needs, overpricing and entering inaccurate information in the acts of work performed. In just a few cases, the Bureau of Economic Security (BES) found abuses in procurements worth more than UAH 50 million, including the procurement of drones.
The Deputy Head of the NACP noted that the National Agency had comprehensively analysed corruption risks in martial law procurement and made a number of recommendations, primarily regarding the analysis of contractors by local governments.
The National Agency also sent its own study of corruption risks in the area of reconstruction to the Poltava Regional Military District Administration to include the identified risks in the anti-corruption programme and work on their elimination.
Last year, out of 118 indictments for environmental violations in Poltava Oblast, one third concerned illegal deforestation, facilitated by existing corruption schemes in the forestry sector. The recommendations for eliminating corruption in this area, developed by the NACP jointly with the Basel Institute on Governance, are the basis for a comprehensive action programme for state and local authorities in the region. The Deputy Head of the National Agency also drew attention to corruption factors in the field of subsoil use, in particular illegal sand mining, in the region.
"It is impossible to effectively counteract and prevent corruption in the priority areas of the region without functional anti-corruption mechanisms in the authorities. The NACP inspection revealed significant problems in the organisation of work to prevent corruption in Poltava City Council, and we are currently addressing the violations and monitoring them. Two-thirds of anti-corruption units in local councils in Poltava Oblast did not report on their work over the past year, which indicates either that the units have not been formed or that they are not functioning properly. We also recommend that state and municipal organisations in the region intensify their efforts to connect to the Unified Whistleblower Reporting Portal. The NACP is a reliable partner of local authorities in developing anti-corruption tools and procedures and is ready to provide all necessary support in their implementation. At the same time, we urge to implement anti-corruption standards not formally, but with a focus on practical results, primarily reducing corruption practices and risks,’ said Mykola Korneliuk.
He added that since the beginning of 2024, NACP has started 40 full audits of declarations submitted by declarants from Poltava region. So far, 29 of them have been completed.
In 16 of the 29 completed audits, the NACP found inaccurate information worth more than UAH 141 million, signs of unreasonable assets worth more than UAH 16 million and illicit enrichment worth more than UAH 79 million.
In addition, lifestyle monitoring of seven officials of the tax and treasury services and the TCC in the region has been completed or is ongoing.
During the working visit to Poltava region, NACP representatives also held joint events and discussions with representatives of educational institutions, NGOs and the media in the region.
The NACP launched the project of regional visits to strengthen cooperation with communities, local authorities, secondary and higher education institutions, journalists, NGOs, and to promote building integrity through community engagement. Representatives of the Agency have already visited Lviv, Dnipro, Chernivtsi, Zhytomyr, Ivano-Frankivsk, Vinnytsia, Lutsk, Cherkasy, Khmelnytskyi, Uzhhorod, Kharkiv, Odesa, Rivne, Kropyvnytskyi, Ternopil and Zaporizhzhia.
