According to the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAPC), the verification of the declarations of Ukrainian officials for December 2024 revealed an impressive statistic: almost every second verified declaration (48%) contained violations. The total amount of unreliable data is UAH 438.5 million, and the record holder was a customs officer with hidden assets of more than UAH 306.9 million.
Top 10 offenders
Among the biggest offenders are former and current officials from various spheres of public service. Here is a list of the loudest cases:
- The ex-deputy head of the Transcarpathian Customs - hid more than UAH 306.9 million. The materials were handed over to the DBR.
- Director of the KMDA department - unreliable information for UAH 22.3 million. Criminal proceedings have been opened against him.
- Deputy of the Kharkiv City Council - "forgot" about assets worth UAH 11.3 million.
- Ex-member of the disciplinary commission of the Bureau of Economic Security (BEB) - a violation of UAH 7.7 million.
- The village head of the Novolatov village council - unreliable data in the declarations for two years in the amount of UAH 4.5 million.
- Judge of the Supreme Court - inaccuracies of UAH 1.8 million.
- The head of the Department of the State Production and Consumer Service in Kyiv - violation of more than UAH 1.3 million.
- The former head of the Carpathian District ecoinspection "forgot" to declare UAH 1.1 million.
- The former deputy head of the Rivne RDA - a violation of 745,000 UAH
- Ex-head of the State Agency for Land Reclamation and Fisheries - discrepancies for 317,000 UAH
General statistics for 2024
During the year, NAZK conducted 1,019 full inspections of declarations, completing 715 of them. Violations were found in half of the checked documents. For comparison, in 2021, only 27% of verified declarations contained inaccurate information.
According to NAKC, the introduction of a risk-oriented approach to the selection of declarations for inspections significantly increased the efficiency of the process.
Identified violations led to the opening of dozens of criminal proceedings under Article 366-2 of the Criminal Code ("Declaration of unreliable information"). The biggest cases, in particular regarding the customs officer and the director of the KMDA department, have already been handed over to law enforcement agencies.
These statistics indicate serious problems in the civil service system, because the presence of hidden assets among officials not only harms trust in the authorities, but also calls into question the transparency of the country's governance.
Strengthening declaration checks and strict response to violations should become key elements in the fight against corruption. After all, real changes in the system can only be achieved through strict control and bringing the guilty to justice.
