Restoring asset declarations for SBU employees — Zelenskyy submitted a bill to the Verkhovna Rada

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy submitted to the Verkhovna Rada a bill to reinstate mandatory asset declarations for employees of the Security Service of Ukraine, UNN reports.

Details

The Rada system states that on November 9, the President of Ukraine submitted a Draft Law on Amendments to the Law of Ukraine "On Prevention of Corruption" regarding the specifics of asset declarations by certain categories of military personnel of the security forces and access to declarations under martial law.

As stated in the explanatory note, the bill proposes amending Article 45 of the Law, under which declarants among military personnel of the National Guard of Ukraine, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine, the Department of State Protection of Ukraine, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the State Special Transport Service of Ukraine, as well as police officers of special-purpose police units who, during martial law, are involved in combat operations in accordance with the procedure established by part four of Article 24 of the Law of Ukraine "On the National Police" (except for declarants among the military personnel specified in paragraphs 1–4 of this part), are required to submit the declarations specified by this article no later than 90 calendar days from the date on which the first of the following circumstances occurs: the termination or cancellation of martial law, or their discharge from military service (police service).

At the same time, it is envisaged that declarants among military personnel serving in other state bodies who, as of the last day of the deadline for submitting declarations established by parts one and two of this article, are directly participating in combat operations, are required to submit the declarations specified by this article no later than 90 calendar days from the date on which one of the following circumstances occurs: the termination or cancellation of martial law; the end of their direct participation in combat operations; or their discharge from military service (police service).

The adoption of the bill will help strengthen the principles of transparency and accountability of public authorities by clarifying the range of military personnel of the security forces subject to the special procedure for submitting declarations, as well as by applying it to persons who directly participate in combat operations and who, due to the nature and conditions of carrying out combat missions, may be objectively limited in their ability to timely fulfill their declaration obligations.  At the same time, the bill will ensure the timely exercise of financial control over certain categories of military personnel of the security forces whose service is not connected with direct participation in combat operations, as well as over military personnel for whom the law provides for the submission of declarations within the general deadlines regardless of participation in such operations 

Earlier

On November 7, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy approved a bill to reinstate declarations for all SBU employees and called on lawmakers to adopt the bill as a matter of urgency.

Context

On November 4, NABU and SAPO reported that they had "exposed a criminal organization whose members ensured the operation of fraudulent call centers, the distribution of narcotic drugs, the commission of economic crimes, as well as crimes against people's lives and health."

According to the investigation, "the illegal activities were carried out with the assistance and cover provided by certain senior officials of the SBU, the National Police, and the Prosecutor General's Office, who were systematically provided with undue benefits."