Rada to consider strengthening responsibility in the use of public funds
Kyiv • UNN
The draft law proposes fines for late disclosure or disclosure of false, inaccurate or incomplete information on the use of public funds by officials, and gives the State Audit Service the right to collect personal data to bring violators to justice.
At one of its next meetings, the Verkhovna Rada plans to consider in the first reading a draft law that strengthens responsibility in the use of public funds by officials (reg. No. 10255). This was reported by UNN with reference to the draft agenda of the Verkhovna Rada meeting.
The draft law "On Amendments to the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses to Strengthen Responsibility for the Use of Public Funds by Officials Managing and Receiving Funds from State and Local Budgets, State and Municipal Enterprises" proposes, in particular, the following changes:
- fines for untimely disclosure of information on the use of public funds or disclosure of false, inaccurate or incomplete information.
- Extension of the period during which information is kept in the public domain from 3 to 5 years.
- granting the State Audit Service the right to collect personal data of the persons who committed the violation so that proceedings can be conducted against them.
Penalties
Today, a fine of UAH 425 to 850 is imposed for failure to disclose information on the use of public funds.
In the draft law, MPs propose to establish such fines:
- for non-disclosure, untimely disclosure of information - proposes to impose the same fine of UAH 425 to 850;
- for publishing false, inaccurate or incomplete information - a fine of UAH 850 to UAH 1190.
- If a person commits the same offense again within a year, they will be fined UAH 1020-1360.
Who will fine
Cases on administrative offenses regarding the publication of false, inaccurate or incomplete information will be considered by the state financial control bodies.
According to the monitoring portal Dozorro, the authors of the draft law do not propose to amend paragraph 8-1 of part 1 of Article 255 of the Code. It stipulates that protocols on violation of Article 212-3 of the Code may be drawn up by authorized officials of the Secretariat of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights or its representatives (except for violations related to the legislation on the Bar).
According to the Code, non-publication of information on public finances not only complicates control over their spending, but also violates the right to information.
State financial control authorities
According to the draft law, the list of rights of the state financial control bodies includes:
- to conduct proceedings on administrative offenses and impose administrative penalties in cases provided for by law;
- the right to collect and receive personal data in cases stipulated by law for the purpose of conducting proceedings on administrative offenses.
- the right to receive not only documents, materials, and information, but also information with restricted access.
Reportedly, if a person is brought to administrative responsibility, his or her institution may be included in the plan of measures of state financial control.