The National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) conducts special inspections of persons applying for civil service positions.
"The year 2024 was one of the most difficult for this area, as since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, special checks were suspended, as well as competitions for civil service positions. In October 2023, special inspections were resumed, and the NACP had to process tens of thousands of inspections that had accumulated over a year and a half, which was physically impossible to do. However, we have optimized processes, strengthened this area and done everything possible to ensure that people are appointed to positions and the state apparatus works to the fullest,” said Oleksandr Ampleiev, Head of the Department for Special Inspections and Control over Timely Filing of Declarations.
In 2024, NACP conducted more than 21 thousand special inspections. Based on their results, 480 people were not appointed to their positions due to the establishment of signs of inaccurate information in their declarations. As of the end of the year, more than 4 thousand requests for special inspections remained pending.
The reasons for such a large number of special inspections are the dismissal of employees due to traveling abroad due to martial law in the country and the appointment of new ones in their place, as well as changes in the location of some bodies from the temporarily occupied territories. The number of inspections was also affected by the fact that competitions were suspended, which prevents the appointment of employees within the same body through promotion in accordance with Article 56 of the Law of Ukraine “On Prevention of Corruption”.
During the martial law, in order to appoint an employee to a higher position within the same body, it is necessary to dismiss him or her and hire him or her under a contract, and conduct a special check. Therefore, introducing appropriate legislative changes regarding the non-conduct of a special inspection in case of dismissal and appointment no later than the next business day within the same body would significantly reduce the number of special inspections.
"There is currently a need to amend the legislation to regulate the peculiarities of appointment of persons applying for responsible positions and positions with a high corruption risk within the same body during the period of martial law. In order to reduce the number of inspections, NACP will work in this direction in 2025,” said NACP Head Viktor Pavlushchyk.
As a reminder, special inspections play an important role in the selection of honest personnel for responsible positions in the state. Special inspections include verification of criminal records, corporate rights, health and education, military registration, verification of the accuracy of the information provided by candidates for positions in the declaration of a person authorized to perform the functions of the state or local government, etc. Among other things, it is established whether the assets acquired by both the candidate for a responsible position and his or her family members correspond to the income received by them from legal sources.
