During a working visit to Volyn, the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) team met with the leadership of the Volyn Regional Military Administration (RMA), Volyn Regional Council and Lutsk City Council. The purpose of the visit was to establish a dialog with regional and local authorities, educators, civic activists, and the media to ensure effective implementation of the state anti-corruption policy. Effective corruption prevention and counteraction activities are also important for the implementation of the European Commission's recommendations regarding Ukraine's status as an EU candidate.
"The role of regional authorities and local governments in minimizing corrupt practices can become a key solution. The National Agency aims to establish constructive cooperation with local authorities, hear direct requests and cooperate for a common goal," emphasized Deputy Head of the NACP Mykola Korneliuk.
During the meetings with Yuriy Pohulyayko, Head of Volyn Regional State Administration, Hryhoriy Nedopad, Head of Volyn Regional Council, and Ihor Polishchuk, Mayor of Lutsk, he emphasized the importance of implementing the State Anti-Corruption Program until 2025. Mykola Korneliuk also shared the NACP's plans for future changes for declarants, which aim to simplify the declaration process by auto-completing most sections of the declaration.
The Deputy Head of the NACP also drew attention to the need for timely connection of local authorities to the Whistleblower Portal. "Currently, more than 2 500 organizations are connected to the Portal. Among them are the Volyn Regional State Administration, the Executive Committee of the Lutsk City Council and the Volyn Regional Council. I would like to note that the NACP has simplified the procedure for connecting to the Portal. We expect all municipal enterprises, institutions and organizations that are under the jurisdiction of the Volyn Regional State Administration and Lutsk City Council to join the Portal in the near future," said Mykola Korneliuk.
In addition, he discussed with the Head of the RMA monitoring of compliance with the law when using funds allocated from the state budget for the construction of fortifications. The NACP representatives drew attention to possible corruption risks in the construction of fortifications in Volyn and measures to mitigate such risks.
According to Yuriy Pohulyayko, in order to prevent corruption risks and control the proper use of budget funds, the Transparency and Accountability Working Group meets weekly. In connection with the construction of fortifications along the border, the head of the region supports the implementation of inspections of contractors who claim to win tenders.
The parties also discussed the issue of conducting special checks of candidates for public service positions. Due to the prolonged suspension of special checks due to martial law, a significant amount of unprocessed materials has accumulated, and candidates from various authorities are waiting for the results of the checks and cannot start work. Mykola Korneliuk noted that the number of uncompleted comprehensive examinations is decreasing, as the NACP has used all possible resources in this area. However, the problem requires a systemic legislative solution.
Hryhoriy Nedopad spoke about the efforts of the regional council to combat corruption, including the approval of the anti-corruption program of the regional council for 2023-2025, taking into account the analysis of the results of the corruption risk assessment for the previous period and measures to minimize them. Not only the regional council, but also all regional municipal institutions have already joined the Unified Whistleblower Reporting Portal. All draft resolutions of the regional council and orders of the chairman are reviewed by the authorized person for the prevention and detection of corruption.
Lutsk Mayor Ihor Polishchuk informed about the results of the development of the anti-corruption program and said that the city ranks second in the ranking of regional centers of Ukraine in terms of the percentage of budget funds allocated to the Armed Forces in 2024. It is worth reminding that the NACP signed the Declaration on Building Integrity of Local Governments with the city of Lutsk in July 2023.
Yurii Sverba, Head of the NACP's Public and Private Integrity Policy Development Department, shared useful developments of the National Agency's team, including the Corruption Risk Management Guide, Methodological Recommendations for Analyzing Counterparties in Local Government Procurement, and the Manager's Guide to Building an Integrity and Effective Organization. Yurii Sverba also held a workshop with employees of the regional executive committee, regional council, and district state administrations, where they discussed the procedure for managing corruption risks, creating anti-corruption programs for government and local authorities, and working with whistleblowers.
As part of the regional travel project, NACP representatives have already visited Lviv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Chernivtsi, Zhytomyr, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Vinnytsia this year. The regional travel project was created to strengthen the NACP's cooperation with communities, local authorities, secondary and higher education institutions, journalists and NGOs, and to promote building integrity through community engagement.
Photos: Press service of the Volyn Regional Council
