January marks the fourth anniversary of the "rebooted" National Agency on Corruption Prevention, NAPC 2.0. During this time, one of the main activities of the National Agency has been monitoring and controlling the implementation of legislation on ethical behavior and the prevention and settlement of conflicts of interest. Through its monitoring and control mechanisms, the NACP seeks to prevent corrupt practices in public organizations and eliminate the causes of such practices.
Thus, in 2020, the NACP developed Guidelines for the Application of Certain Provisions of the Law of Ukraine "On Prevention of Corruption" on Prevention and Settlement of Conflicts of Interest and Compliance with Restrictions on Prevention of Corruption. They provided a unified approach to understanding and implementing the rules in this area.
In the same year, 239 reports on administrative offenses were drawn up against 71 people, including government officials, a Central Election Commission (CEC) member, MPs, and local authorities.
In 2021, the National Agency, together with the NGO “Anti-Corruption Headquarters," presented the Hidden Interests Portal, which became the first digital tool to help identify conflicts of interest in the activities of public officials. Involvement of civil society in controlling public authorities through an accessible IT tool helps to identify and prevent corrupt practices.
Together with experts from the EU Anti-Corruption Initiative (EUACI) and with expert support from the World Bank, a concept for improving anti-corruption legislation in terms of preventing and resolving conflicts of interest was developed. Based on this concept, two draft laws have been prepared and are currently undergoing the Government's approval procedure.
In 2022, the NACP significantly updated its Methodological Recommendations. After supplementing them with practical cases of solving common problems, the essence of the conflict of interest became more understandable for public servants.
"Due to higher standards of proof and the NACP's active position in unifying law enforcement practice, the number of officials brought to administrative responsibility based on the results of reviewing protocols drawn up by the NACP's authorized persons in connection with violations of the conflict of interest legislation has increased. While in 2018-2019, administrative penalties were imposed for 2-3% of the protocols reviewed by the courts, in 2022 this figure began to grow significantly, and in 2023 it amounted to 46%," said Artem Sytnyk, Deputy Head of the NACP.
Among the persons who were subjected to administrative penalties by the courts in 2020-2023 are nine high-ranking officials, including a deputy minister, a CEC member, four MPs, and three judges.
The NACP's monitoring in 2022–2023 revealed signs of embezzlement and misuse of budget funds and funds provided for humanitarian assistance to people in difficult life circumstances due to Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine, amounting to more than UAH 5 billion.
Based on the NACP's substantiated conclusions, the pre-trial investigation authorities initiated 20 criminal proceedings on corruption offenses.
"Over the past four years, our work has been focused on improving the effectiveness of monitoring compliance with conflict of interest legislation, demonstrating the appropriate level of independence and transparency, improving the level of methodological assistance on the application of conflict of interest legislation, and eliminating the shortcomings of legislation on the prevention and settlement of conflicts of interest," said the Head of the Department for Monitoring and Control over the Implementation of Legislation on Conflict of Interest and Prevention of Corruption.
In order to make the identification and prevention of conflicts of interest an accessible and understandable anti-corruption tool for everyone, the following test was developed:
- a test for determining the presence or absence of a conflict of interest, which helps public servants understand typical problem situations and identify conflicts of interest in a timely manner;
- a test for resolving conflicts of interest, which will tell you whom to notify and what measures to take to resolve it if such a conflict has arisen;
- a test for a manager to choose a way to resolve conflicts of interest in his or her subordinates, which helps the manager determine the best actions to resolve a conflict of interest in a subordinate.
As of 10.01, the NACP has updated the Guidelines on Conflict of Interest, which are available here. We ask you to follow them when making decisions about your activities to avoid conflicts of interest.
