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Checking declarations of Zelensky, Bakanov, NACP to consider data contained in Pandora Papers' investigation – media
KYIV. Oct 4 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP), when checking the declarations of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and Head of the State Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Ivan Bakanov, will take into account information about the offshore scandal that arose after the publication of the Pandora Papers investigation, Head of the NACP Oleksandr Novikov said.
"We carry out a full check of the president’s declaration. During the verification, we also use media data, we cooperate with journalists. Thus, the information will also be taken into account […]. First assistant to the president on a voluntary basis [Serhiy Shefir] is not a person filing a declaration, but therefore, we cannot check the declaration. And we check the declaration of the SBU head," Novikov said.
The NACP head said the verification of the declarations of Zelensky and Bakanov is not due to the information published by journalists, but according to the order of priority.
"The first declaration that is checked in the country is the president’s declaration. The check was started back in April and its results will be published by October 18," Novikov said.
However, the NACP head explained whether the facts set out in the journalistic investigation can be grounds for bringing officials to justice.
"Not displaying [in the declaration] funds on the accounts of offshore companies is not a violation. It is not a violation of the companies themselves, if these companies belong to the subjects. I want to say that the law on the prevention of corruption has Part 3 of Article 46. According to it, only those facilities that are registered with offshore companies are displayed in the declaration, if this is property that is not used in economic activities," he said.
Novikov said that everything else is not subject to reflection in the declaration. "That is, the funds are not subject to reflection in the declaration if they do not belong to an individual, but to a legal entity, which are companies […]. By themselves, these facts, which took place in 2012, cannot be a basis for liability. They can be the basis if they continued to exist on December 31, 2020 and were not reflected in the declaration. Whether they existed or did not exist is a subject of complete verification. The actions of 2012, in principle, cannot be qualified as a violation within the NACP competence," he said.
