Over the past week, she has exposed what she says is an effort by lawmakers Anton Gerashchenko and Ivan Vinnyk to discredit and block electronic declarations.
Gerashchenko of the People’s Front party and Vinnyk of the Bloc of President Petro Poroshenko claimed on Aug. 19 that the declaration system had been hacked, which allegedly proves that the authorities’ decision not to certify it had been justified. However, the agency later said that no hacking had taken place, and unidentified people had uploaded a fake declaration using an electronic key given to them by a state company.
Drik and other civic activists say that the stunt was a crime and call for punishing those responsible.
Drik, who is also head of the Civic Lustration Committee, has promoted efforts to fire top officials of ex-President Viktor Yanukovych’s regime under the 2014 lustration law. Poroshenko and other top officials have routinely sabotaged the law.
– Oleg Sukhov
Natalia Korchak, anti-reformer of the week.
Natalia Korchak, head of the National Agency for Preventing Corruption, has been accused of derailing the launch of electronic asset and income declarations for officials – a major anti-graft tool.
The State Service for Government Communications on Aug. 12 refused to certify the electronic declaration system, arguing that it did not comply with technical requirements. The service was then accused of sabotaging the system, and Korchak, a protege of People’s Front heavyweight Oleksandr Turchynov, effectively backed its decision. Then Korchak’s agency made a controversial decision to launch the uncertified system on Aug. 15. As a result, punishing officials for lying in declarations became impossible, since evidence from the uncertified system will be inadmissible by the courts. The move allowed officials to hide and legalize their corrupt wealth.
As the scandal escalated, the National Agency for Preventing Corruption on Aug. 18 postponed the launch until Sept. 1. The system is expected to be certified by the State Service for Government Communications by then.
Rouslan Riaboshapka, a reformist official at the agency, said in June that Korchak was delaying the launch of declarations, recruiting staff in a non-transparent manner and choosing the worst candidates with the lowest scores.
– Oleg Sukhov
