During today's meeting of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Taxation and Customs Policy, the first deputy chairman of the committee, MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak, tried to push through an amendment that would remove an important anti-corruption provision from the bill on rebooting the Bureau of Economic Security, UNN reports.
We are talking about the provision of the draft law that deprives candidates listed in the Corruption Register of corrupt officials of the opportunity to hold the position of BES chairman.
"And here, again, there is the question that he (the candidate for the post of BES head - ed.) will be... That he is not in this register of corrupt officials. Well, again, it seems to me that this is stupid, that it does not meet the requirements, as we have for other bodies... well, sorry... You yourself, first of all, the Servant of the People, shouted that we... should work for a year and then exclude him from it. I have a proposal to simply remove this. This is clause 3 and subclause 13 - "information about which is included in the Unified State Register of persons who have committed a corruption or corruption-related offense," Zheleznyak said.
Елена АрхиповаCommittee Chairman Danylo Hetmantsev rejected the proposal. However, Zheleznyak insisted and did not want to accept the decision to leave this provision in the draft law.
The Committee eventually supported and recommended that the Verkhovna Rada adopt draft law No. 10439 on the reform of the Bureau of Economic Security (BES). However, without business comments and the approval of foreign partners.
It should be added that during the discussion around Zhelezniak's proposal to exclude the anti-corruption provision, Committee Chairman Hetmantsev pointed to double standards - that when anti-corruption restrictions close the way to office for a "corrupt activist," "you propose to remove these restrictions." Probably referring to Artem Sytnyk.
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On June 3, 2024, Artem Sytnyk, Deputy Head of the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption, resigned from his position. Against this background, it was reported that Artem Sytnyk is preparing to head the BES after its restart.
However, we remind you that Sytnyk was included in the register of corrupt officials by a court decision in 2019, when he headed the National Anti-Corruption Bureau.
Article under which Sytnyk was prosecuted for committing a corruption or corruption-related offense: Part 1 of Article 172-5 of the Code of Administrative Offenses Violation of statutory restrictions on receiving gifts.
The Prosecutor General's Office drew up administrative reports against Sytnyk regarding his vacation at a hunting ground in Rivne region, which was allegedly paid for by other people and the NABU director did not indicate the amount in his declaration. Sytnyk allegedly failed to pay for accommodation during his vacation in the amount of UAH 25,000.