In recent days, the Ukrainian political scene has been rocked by a scandal related to the financial reports of the political party "Voice", which is known for its active participation in parliamentary life and reforms in Ukraine. This time, the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NACP) found serious flaws in the party's financial reporting, which led to the suspension of its funding.
Yesterday, the NAKC announced that it was stopping the funding of the political party "Holos" because the financial reports of the political force contained inaccurate information amounting to millions of hryvnias. To whom the funds were transferred and how the counterparty of "Golos" can be connected with the deputies of the party itself was investigated by the editors.
"For the two quarters of 2020, the political party "Voice" entered into the report inaccurate information for the total amount of 4 million 726 thousand 500 hryvnias. This is a reason for the termination of state financing of the statutory activities of the party," the National Committee of the National People's Congress said.
It was clarified there that in the third quarter of 2020, the "Voice" party signed contracts for the provision of services with "Maintis" LLC for UAH 1 million. Among such services were:
- oral consultations and clarifications on practical aspects of the application of the Election Code;
- oral legal consultations on issues of the election process;
- checking the correctness of filling out documents for observers at the next local elections, etc.
But, as noted in the agency, the specified company did not provide these services to the party. And this is confirmed by materials received from the State Bureau of Investigation and the State Tax Service.
In the party's report for the fourth quarter of 2020, the NAZK revealed similar violations in the amount of UAH 1 million. In addition, Kyiv city territorial organization "Voice" also had a contract with "Maintis" LLC in the amount of more than 2,452,500 UAH.
All data on detected violations have already been forwarded to the State Bureau of Investigation.
Meanwhile, the company "Maintis", which received almost UAH 5 million from the Ukrainian budget, turned out to be agrarian in general. According to data from the "Open Data" portal, its main activity is "wholesale grain trade".
"Maintis" LLC is owned by two persons: Ivan Yuriyovych Haydayenko and Kostyantyn Viktorovych Tsymbal.
In addition, another agrarian enterprise is registered on Tsymbal Kostyantyn Viktorovych - LLC "AGRARIAN COMPANY "GRAINS TRADITIONS"".
Against the backdrop of the agrarian profile of the counterparty of the "Voice", separate legislative initiatives of the party's deputies themselves now appear to be no accident.
In particular, the head of the "Voice" faction, Yaroslav Zheleznyak, was repeatedly called a lobbyist for the interests of certain players in the agrarian market in the media.
Zheleznyak began to take care of the agrarian topic from the moment of his election as a deputy. He was one of the main supporters of the opening of the land market and constantly cooperated closely with the association "Ukrainian Club of Agrarian Business" (UKAB). The latter unites the country's largest private agricultural holdings and defends the interests of their owners.
The analysis of Zheleznyak's legislative initiatives also confirms the presence of signs of selective agrarian lobbying in his actions.
In particular, Zheleznyak is one of the authors of draft law No. 9266 "On electronic agricultural receipts", which expands the circle of creditors capable of financing agriculture. The adoption of this document was actively lobbied by UKAB representative Alex Lissitsa.
In October 2023, Zheleznyak registered bill No. 10169 on combating gray grain exports, which was recently adopted. And the appearance of this document was also lobbied by a part of agrarian businessmen.
In addition, Zheleznyak is the head of the temporary parliamentary commission, which is the only one in the Verkhovna Rada dealing with "grain export" topics.
Accordingly, it is hardly a coincidence that the agricultural company, to which "Holos" had written off almost 5 million state hryvnias, appears in the reports of the NAKC.
