Viktor Pavlushchyk, Head of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP), spoke about the change in the methodology for selecting officials' declarations for full verification. However, despite statements about a new "risk-oriented approach," the mechanism for selecting declarations remains unclear, writes UNN.
"It is important to understand that the approaches to selecting declarations for full verification before 2022 and after the actual resumption of declaration in 2024 are completely different. Back then, the focus was on verifying the declarations of the highest state officials: the President, the Cabinet of Ministers, people's deputies, judges of the Supreme Court, and the Constitutional Court of Ukraine," Pavlushchyk said.
At the same time, he admitted that the NACP does not have the resources for full verification of declarations of representatives of regional state bodies, heads of state and communal enterprises, and society could wait for them for years.
Pavlushchyk noted that the NACP's resources do not allow checking all almost 700,000 declarations submitted to the Register annually.
At the same time, he is convinced that the new approach, under which selective verification will be carried out, will force officials to declare their property more conscientiously. However, it is still unknown what approach the NACP uses to select declarations for verification and whether manual control is impossible here.
"As I have already noted, in 2024, the approach changed to a risk-oriented one. We check the declarations of officials at all levels. Yes, there is an emphasis on those who hold responsible and especially responsible positions, of course. Now any declaration can be selected for verification if, based on the results of logical and arithmetic control, it has a high-risk rating," Pavlushchyk said.
Commenting on experts' accusations that there are gaps in the logical-arithmetic method, in particular the lack of a market valuation tool, Pavlushchyk noted: "The problem is actually complex. During inspections, we investigate the circumstances of acquiring assets at an undervalued cost, primarily this applies to cars - in the vast majority of cases, this is related to understating the tax base, which we inform the tax authorities about."
According to him, since January 1, the rules have changed and "selling for 50 thousand" is now almost impossible, but, in Pavlushchyk's opinion, the effect will be noticeable from 2026.
He also outlined several other factors that, in his opinion, complicate the NACP's work.
"With real estate, it's simpler: there is an approved valuation procedure. Many factors must be taken into account, including the acquisition date; for example, an asset acquired after November 2019 can be deemed unjustified. There are also problems with land valuation - in the new Anti-Corruption Strategy, we propose to improve it. In any case, during the inspection, we analyze the income of the declarant and their family members, their proportionality to expenses. This is always a comprehensive and individual analysis," he noted.
At the same time, justifying the NACP's failure to notice facts indicating illegal enrichment of MSEC officials, Pavlushchyk noted that the Agency is not a law enforcement body, does not carry out operational measures, does not conduct searches, but works with data from registers and received documents and explanations from the declarant. "Therefore, it is impossible to establish illegal undeclared cash or funds in foreign accounts solely by the NACP without the help of law enforcement agencies," he summarized.
Given this explanation, it remains unclear how the NACP monitors the lifestyle of officials when suspicions arise regarding their possible illegal enrichment.
Recall
On October 4, 2024, Tetyana Krupa, an official of the MSEC, and her son, the head of the Pension Fund of Ukraine's department in Khmelnytskyi region, were exposed for illegal enrichment amounting to millions of hryvnias.
Serious violations totaling over UAH 34.8 million were found in the declarations of the former head of the Khmelnytskyi MSEC and a regional council deputy. On March 31, 2025, the Appeals Chamber of the HACC reduced Krupa's bail to UAH 130 million.
And on June 4 of the same year, the Appeals Chamber left the preventive measure unchanged: Krupa remained in custody, but with a bail of UAH 112 million until July 13, 2025.
Later, the HACC extended her detention until September 7, 2025, setting bail at UAH 56 million and a number of obligations if it was paid.
On September 4, 2025, the High Anti-Corruption Court changed the preventive measure for Tetyana Krupa to bail in the amount of UAH 20 million. After that, she paid the bail.