In case of ensuring service provision through Administrative Services Centers, the state budget will save up to UAH 10 billion per year, said Novikov, Head of NACP

The Administrative Services Centers (ASCs) are to play an important role in the implementation of the Anti-Corruption Strategy for 2020-2024, as they offer convenient alternatives to corrupt practices that will contribute to considerable saving of public funds. This was stated today by Oleksandr Novikov, Head of NACP, during an online conference Combating Corruption at the Local Level, organized by the ULEAD with Europe Project. “In case of ensuring social and administrative service provision through Administrative Services Centers, the budget can save up to UAH 10 billion. In other words, there will be tangible practical results from the introduction of corruption-free ASCs,” the NACP Head commented. During the Conference, the Manual ‘How to Establish a Corruption-Free ASC’ was presented, which was developed in consultation with Dmytro Kalmykov, Head of the Anti-Corruption Policy Department, NACP. The Manual contains practical recommendations that will allow the ASCs to prevent corruption risks in their activity. “In fact, the ASC is an anti-corruption body, because it makes corruption almost impossible if the principles set out in this Manual are implemented,” Oleksandr Novikov said. He stressed that in view of the Decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine (CCU), not all information included in the Manual can be applied in practice. In particular, the information on the liability for corruption and corruption-related offenses, namely, on liability for providing false data in a declaration lost its relevance. The NACP Head also stressed that the NACP continues to do everything possible in order to provide officials with information on preventing corruption. In particular, the NACP developed new draft Guidelines for Prevention and Resolution of Conflict of Interest, available here.