The NACP has revealed violations in the declarations of officials this year

The NACP has revealed violations in the declarations of officials this year

Kyiv  •  UNN

October 9 2024, 08:52 AM  •  7616 views

The NACP checked 734 declarations of officials, of which only 1 had no violations. 46% of the verified declarations contained violations totaling UAH 1.86 billion.

Officials have submitted more than 1.2 million declarations to the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption by September 11 this year, almost three times more than in the same period in 2023. This year, the NACP has started verifying 734 declarations, with only 1 declaration showing no violations, UNN reports.

Details

According to Opendatabot, a total of 1,246,435 declarations were submitted to the NACP this year. The number of corrected documents has almost doubled compared to last year. This year, the NACP has started verification of 734 officials' declarations. In half of them - 392 cases - the checks have already been completed.

Only 1 declaration out of all those checked had no violations

- the statement said.

Of the fully examined declarations, 46% contain violations totaling UAH 1,856.1 million.

In general, all the mistakes made by officials are related to incorrectly stated amounts in their declarations. The difference lies in the size of the inaccuracies: the amounts were less or more than 500 subsistence minimums.

In 30% of all audited declarations, data totaling UAH 1,808.7 million were incorrect (Article 366-2 of the Criminal Code). On average, officials "made a mistake" in each such declaration by UAH 15 million, the analytical platform said.

In another 16% of the audited declarations, officials made mistakes, on average, by UAH 790 thousand per declaration (part 4 of Article 172-5 of the Code of Administrative Offenses). In total, such errors amounted to UAH 47.3 million. Every second audited declaration contained errors of less than UAH 268 thousand or up to 100 subsistence minimums.

It is noted that in some cases, the declarations violated 2 articles at once. 7 declarations also have signs of illicit enrichment totaling UAH 146.3 million (Article 368-5 of the Criminal Code). In another 8 documents, officials could not explain the origin of money in the amount of UAH 30.1 million (Article 290 of the Civil Procedure Code).

Recall

According to UNN, the acting deputy head of the State Tax Service of Ukraine, Yevhen Sokur, entered allegedly inaccurate information in his 2023 declaration. In particular, he failed to provide information about his live-in girlfriend. During the investigation into the case of an alleged attempted assassination attempt, Sokur himself told law enforcement officers that since 2016 he had been living with a girl named Alina in an apartment at 6-D Lobanovskoho Avenue. Following a deputy appeal by Nina Yuzhanina, a member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Taxation and Customs Policy, the NACP launched an investigation into Yevhen Sokur. In response to a request from UNN, the Agency also confirmed that they are monitoring the official's lifestyle. Kateryna Butko, head of the Public Council at the NACP, noted that the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption is checking whether Sokur and his live-in girlfriend Alina had a common life.

Also, in 2022, he declared income from the sale of securities in the amount of UAH 2.6 million, but these funds were not reflected in his declaration for 2023. This may indicate a violation of the law requiring notification of significant changes in property status. According to Article 52 of the Law of Ukraine "On Prevention of Corruption," the declarant is obliged to report such changes within 10 days. According to Oleksandr Zolotukhin, a member of the National Bar Association, the official may try to explain why he did not declare these expenses by saying that he leads a lifestyle and, for example, likes to eat out.

Add

In addition, Sokur is a defendant in a criminal proceeding opened on November 4, 2022 under Part 3 of Article 365 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine on the fact of abuse of office by Acting Deputy Head of the State Tax Service of Ukraine Yevhen Sokur. The case was opened because on October 26, 2022, Sokur signed an order to revoke the license of PJSC Ukrtatnafta for the production of fuel. Such actions of the official, according to the investigation, caused severe consequences for the company and the state in the form of the inability to fulfill the mobilization tasks of the Ministry of Defense for the production and supply of petroleum products for the needs of defense and defense capability of the state. According to the SBI, this criminal proceeding is still under investigation.

Lawyer: absence of almost UAH 2.6 million in the declaration of one of the country's top tax officials Sokur may be a reason for NACP investigationOctober 2 2024, 08:41 AM • 104205 views