Ukrainian Parliament wants to lift the NACP’s right to spot misconducts in political parties’ reports.

Today, June 16, at 3:00 PM (GMT+3), the Parliamentary Committee of Legal Policy will conduct a meeting to consider a draft law № 5253. Earlier, the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) warned that in case approved the draft law № 5253 will prohibit the NACP to detect fictitious financial transactions of parties and services provided at reduced or inflated prices. The detection of such misconducts may also lead to NACP suspending the state funding of political parties.   The NAPC considers the draft law as a direct response to the results of its activities. Over the past year, the NACP has suspended state funding for three parliamentary parties due to the identified violations in their reports. "If the draft law is approved, the verification of parties’ reports will be senseless. The NACP’s work in this regard will become a paper chase. If we see the parties’ violation, we will not be able to report on it. Voting for this draft law, the PMs will increase the influence of the oligarchs on the parties, while it contradicts their election programs, the President's program, and the Government’s practice”, - explains the Head of the NACP Oleksandr Novikov. There are risks that the Committee recommends the Ukrainian Parliament to adopt the draft law by abbreviated procedurу. The draft law may be approved as early as tomorrow, June 17.   How adoption of the draft law will benefit Ukrainian oligarchs? The purpose of political finance reform is to reduce the influence of oligarchs on public administration. The financial reports of political parties are posted publicly, and the NACP audits and detects violations. This prevents the illicit financing of parties. Thanks to state funding of political parties, parties shall not depend on wealthy contributors (sponsors), such as the oligarchs. If draft law 5253 is approved, the oligarchs will be able to continue funding political parties, but at the same time, the parties will also receive state funding.   What do international practices and the CSOs say? Eleven leading NGOs called on MPs to refrain from considering draft law 5253, which they believe destroys control over party finances. The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) stated that political funding legislation requires some adjustments, yet draft law 5253 “does not address key shortcomings identified by [international] organizations”. IFES notes that due to the changes proposed by MPs, control over party finances “would not be effective as required by international standards”. The NACP hopes that the Parliament of Ukraine will act in accordance with the principles of integrity and maintain the existing mechanisms in the field of political finance.