The NACP 2.0: financial control 2022 – unsubstantiated assets for $9.4 million and UAH 100 million

19.01.2023

Despite the fact that the full-scale Russian invasion stopped full checks of declarations, the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) continued to exercise financial control over officials using the available tools. One of them is monitoring the lifestyle of public servants.

"2022 was a difficult year for everyone, but the war should not stand in the way of the financial control of officials. These mechanisms, first of all, are created to prevent corruption, therefore, without them, the volume of work of other anti-corruption bodies will increase several times, while the losses to the state will be colossal. Therefore, last year we partially reformatted the work of the team to strengthen lifestyle monitoring. This tool is no less effective than full checks of declarations, and with its help, officials will have to return illegally acquired assets to the state", — stressed the Deputy Head of the NACP, Artem Sytnyk.

What are the key achievements of the department? In 2022, the NACP established 18 facts of acquisition of unfounded assets by declarants for a total amount of almost UAH 100 million. All materials based on these facts have been transferred to the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office with the aim of filing lawsuits to recover illegally acquired assets from state revenue, as well as conducting a pre-trial investigation into the facts of illegal enrichment. During the monitoring of the way of life of the officials, 12 facts of entering unreliable information in the declaration, which differ from the reliable ones in the amount of almost UAH 60 million, were also established. Materials with substantiated conclusions have been sent to law enforcement agencies. Also, a special unit of the NACP checks officials who work under the label "undercover" and judges. During these monitorings, the NACP checked 14 reporting entities and found unsubstantiated assets in the amount of:

550,850 euros;
5,776,000 dollars;
22,557,000 hryvnias (UAH).

The total amount is 255.2 million UAH, which is equivalent to 9.4 million dollars. According to the results of the review of lifestyle monitoring materials, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine initiated three criminal proceedings under Art. 368-5 "Illegal enrichment" of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (CPC of Ukraine) (regarding an employee of the SSU, a MP’s of Ukraine, a judge of one of the district courts). Also, the Bureau of Economic Security in criminal proceedings under Art. 209 "Legalization of criminally obtained income" of the Criminal Code of Ukraine investigates the origin of the specified assets. Which cases were the loudest during the year?

Unsubstantiated assets of UAH 50 million in MP’s Nataliya Korolevska;
an apartment of a retired grandmother worth UAH 4 million in the "French Quarter - 2" in Kyiv, which was received as a gift by the prosecutor of the Vinnytsia Oblast Prosecutor's Office;
an employee of the State Emergency Service from Kyiv, who did not include in the declaration 14 real estate objects (apartments, office premises, parking spaces) and a car with a total value of UAH 28.8 million.

In addition, in August 2022, the Government approved the updated Procedure for conducting a special check regarding persons applying for positions that involve taking a responsible or particularly responsible position, and positions with an increased corruption risk. The development of the Procedure was coordinated by the NACP. The main feature of the updated Procedure is that it contains an exhaustive list of information about the applicant for the position, which does not meet the requirements established by law for occupying the position and is a reason for refusing to appoint dishonest candidates to the relevant positions.