The Ukrainian Register of Asset Declarations is a unique tool in the world, and is currently the world's largest database of public officials' assets. Since its launch, the Registry has come a long way to becoming one of the most advanced state IT products that has revolutionized the anti-corruption system in Ukraine. Despite the full-scale war, we continue to improve and create digital tools for declaring and fighting corruption. This was stated by Viktor Pavlushchyk, Head of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP), during the international conference "Asset Declaration - Unification, Digitalization, Control" organized by the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau of the Republic of Poland (CBA). The event was dedicated to discussing challenges related to the modernization of asset declaration systems and the introduction of modern technologies to ensure transparency in the management of public resources.
The conference was attended by representatives of countries with different experience in implementing asset declaration systems. Each of them noted both strengths and weaknesses of their systems in a wide range of issues.
"NACP has developed a risk assessment system for declarations submitted to the Register and automated verification of declarations with a low risk rating, which is about 30% of all submitted declarations, and anyone can see the corresponding mark near the declaration in the public part of the Register. In addition, NACP has introduced a completely new risk-oriented approach to the selection of declarations for full verification by authorized persons. The effectiveness of this approach is evidenced by the fact that every second declaration now contains signs of inaccurate information, signs of illicit enrichment or unjustified assets. For comparison, in 2021, violations were found in about 20% of the completed full audits of declarations. The efficiency of declaration verification was improved by developing certain rules and formulas for logical and arithmetic control, which required painstaking work of the financial control and IT teams,” said Yulia Kulikova, Head of the Full Scrutiny Department.
Head of the Department of Information Systems, Analytical Work and Information Protection Anna Kovtunenko noted that NACP, as the owner of the Register, is responsible for data confidentiality and protection. A comprehensive system of information protection has been built in accordance with the procedure established by law, which is confirmed by the Certificate of Conformity. She also focused on the technical aspects of the Registry's work.
"Currently, the Register has almost 1.7 million users, about 9 million published documents, an analytical module of logical and arithmetic control that compares declaration data with data from 20 state registers and databases, a mechanism for automated verification of declarations, a mechanism for automatic filling out of declarations, round-the-clock free access to the public part of the Register, including in a machine-readable format using a public API. The system has no analogues,” said Anna Kovtunenko.
Representatives of the Agency presented Ukraine's achievements in the field of declaration - from the launch of the Register of declarations, its development, new functions of the Register to help declarants, which were created and launched in the context of a full-scale invasion.
The conference also focused on international standards for the unification of declaration systems (OECD, GRECO), successful digitalization cases from Romania, Estonia, Hungary, Moldova and Latvia, challenges in using automated systems for data verification and exchange of experience between representatives of European and Eastern Partnership countries.
The event showed that Ukraine indeed has the best declaration system, which has no analogues at least among the participating countries, in terms of the amount of information, convenience of service and effective verification methods.
