The “European Solidarity” faction supports the restoration of electronic declaration of assets of state officials and demands that declaration be made mandatory for all full-time and part-time employees and advisers of the President’s Office, heads of state enterprises, military commissars, military medical commissions and officials engaged in defense procurement with budget money.
This was stated by faction co-chairs Iryna Gerashchenko and Artur Gerasimov during the briefing. The people’s deputies submitted relevant legislative initiatives to the Verkhovna Rada. As the People’s Deputies noted, until the end of the war, it is necessary to postpone the declaration for those who are at the battlefront.
“In order for Ukraine to start official negotiations regarding Ukraine’s accession to the EU this year, we must fulfill seven mandatory prerequisites. The law on the restoration of declaration is a key point regarding the fight against corruption. It was our team that introduced this legislation, we created the anti-corruption infrastructure and everyone submitted declarations transparently. As soon as the current team came to power, the Constitutional Court canceled the declaration, now there has been no declaration for more than 1.5 years,” Gerashchenko recalled.
She noted that before the second reading of the bill on declaration, “Eurosolidarity” insists on its proposals.
“The first is transparency, all declarations must be in public space. And this is a fundamental question. Of course, we have to protect our soldiers who are at the front today, who do not have the opportunity to run and collect papers. It is obvious that the military will fill out the declarations after the end of the war,” Gerashchenko believes.
“But all military committees, all positions involved in any corruption risks in the Ministry of Defense system, all ministers, deputy ministers of defense and all rear support must be declared,” the deputy emphasizes.
“And the key thing: all representatives of the President’s Office, full-time and part-time, must be declared. After all, it is the President’s Office that actually manages the country today. Bankova replaced the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bankova decides all contracts related to the Ministry of Defense, Bankova manages the government, today Bankova manages the parliament – except for “European Solidarity”. People who have a direct influence on decision-making by the state authorities should declare themselves, as well as all managers and representatives of state-owned enterprises,” said Iryna Gerashchenko.
“Regarding state-owned enterprises: I hold in my hands the headlines from just the last few days: “How officials of state-owned enterprises have been robbing the state for years”, “The state-owned enterprise of the Ministry of Youth Sports will spend 300 million on the repair of tennis courts. This is more than Minister Fedorov collected for kamikaze drones,” Artur Gerasimov notes.
“The question often arises: why is the company unprofitable, and managers receive salaries of 100, 200, 300,000, and sometimes millions. We believe that the society, the citizens of Ukraine should clearly know – which of these directors works hard and the company brings in profits, and which of these directors appoints salaries and bonuses from losses,” – believes Gerasimov.
“That is why European Solidarity submitted its proposals to the draft law on the return of declaration, with which we clearly state that the military today should not spend time on declaration, with the exception of military recruiting office, military medical commissions, and those responsible for procurement. Today, all representatives of the authorities must declare themselves, especially the representatives of the Office of the President, who today controls everything in this country. Managers of state-owned enterprises must also declare themselves, so that society can see whether these are unprofitable enterprises and the managers receive large salaries, or whether they are profitable,” the MP summarizes.