On November 14, the former Head of the department for financial control and lifestyle monitoring of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (hereafter – NACP or the Agency) Hanna Solomatina testified about the flagrant cases of violation of law and political dependence of the NACP Head Natalia Korchak and other members of the Agency representing the top political leadership of the state.

In particular, Ms. Solomatina stated that the Head of the NACP is personally postponing the launching of the automated verification of electronic declarations of public servants. Moreover, Ms. Korchak is using the e-declaration system for covering up the officials loyal to the government, punishing those who disagree, and pursuing the goal of personal enrichment.

Moreover, there is a supervisor at the Presidential Administration, who provides the Agency with directions concerning the verification of electronic declarations of public servants. Without naming this person, Hanna Solomatina noted that this state official is also running for a position of the Head of the State Bureau of Investigation. Currently, there is only one person who meets both criteria, Oleksiy Gorashchenkov, the First Deputy Head of the General Department of strategic planning and operational support of the Presidential Administration. He is also a member of a committee responsible for election of the NACP leadership, meaning that he has real tools of influence on the Agency’s activities.

The published information has already been forwarded to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) for investigation. In this regard, civil society coalition “Reanimation Package of Reforms” demands:

• from the Head of the NACP: to take a vacation during the time of the investigation and to assist in conducting it;
• from the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office: to abstain from imposing procedural barriers on the investigation conducted by NABU, and to promptly, impartially and within the limits of the legislation to verify the facts claimed by Hanna Solomatina, and give them a legal assessment in the framework of the criminal proceeding;
• from NABU: to ensure a prompt investigation of the facts claimed by Hanna Solomatina, within the current legislative framework;
• from the Verkhovna Rada: to approve the draft law No.6387 aimed at reforming the NACP and restarting the work on verification of declarations of public officials and monitoring of their lifestyle. In case of its adoption, the current leadership of the Agency would be dismissed, the procedure for the formation of the NACP will be changed, and a new procedure for the annual independent audit of the Agency would be put in place, similarly to NABU’s auditing procedure.
• from the Verkhovna Rada, the President of Ukraine, the Cabinet of Ministers, the National Agency of Ukraine on Civil Service, and NGO’s: to change their representatives at the selection committee for the NACP membership, facilitate a new transparent competition, involve international experts as guarantors of the commission’s impartiality;
• from Ukraine’s international partners: to freeze the funding for all the projects related to the Agency’s activities and to facilitate the relaunching of the NACP,, with the maximum involvement of both the civil society and reputable international experts.