Zelenskyy has tabled bill in parliament to reinstate requirement for SSU staff to declare their assets
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has tabled a bill in the Verkhovna Rada concerning a special procedure for asset declarations by members of the security forces. The initiative comes against the backdrop of the NABU’s new investigation, ‘Carthage’.
This was reported by Censor.NET.
Details
Document No. 16220 was registered on 9 November and designated as urgent. It provides for amendments to anti-corruption legislation and concerns access to the asset declarations of certain categories of military personnel under martial law.
The document has been submitted to the parliamentary leadership for consideration.
About the draft law
The explanatory note states that it has been drafted with the aim of improving the regulatory framework governing the specific procedures for the submission of declarations by certain members of the security forces under martial law, ensuring the timely implementation of financial control measures in respect of individuals for whom there are no objective grounds for deferring the submission of declarations, whilst simultaneously preserving the necessary safeguards for individuals who, due to the nature and conditions of their combat duties, may be objectively limited in their ability to fulfil this obligation in a timely manner.
The draft law also aims to improve the mechanism for restricting public access to declarations and notifications of significant changes in the financial status of certain categories of declarants amongst security forces personnel, and to restore public access once such restrictions have been lifted, as well as to enhance the effectiveness of financial oversight.
- The draft bill proposes to maintain the deferral for military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard, the State Border Guard Service, the State Special Communications Service, the Presidential Guard, the State Special Transport Service and special-purpose police officers involved in combat operations.
- Servicemen from other state bodies, in particular the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU), will only be able to defer the submission of their declarations if, on the final day of the deadline, they are directly engaged in combat operations. Being redeployed to combat will not extend this deadline.
- Those who have not submitted declarations since 2021 will be required to do so within 90 days of the law coming into force. Furthermore, the document clarifies whose declarations may be restricted for security reasons and whose may not, and how to restore public access to them.
Earlier, Zelenskyy stated that he wanted to reinstate asset declarations for all SBU staff so that their wealth and lifestyle could be scrutinised. The initiative came against the backdrop of the NABU and SAPO operation ‘Carthage’, in which high-ranking SSU officials are implicated.
NABU’s ‘Carthage’ operation
- Earlier, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) reported that a senior SSU official was threatening to use a weapon and obstructing a search.
- Subsequently, the Bureau stated that NABU and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) had exposed a criminal organisation that had systematically bribed senior officials of the SSU, the National Police and the Prosecutor’s Office in exchange for ‘protection’ of fraudulent call centres and other illegal businesses.
- NABU stated that, as part of the ‘Carthage’ investigation, a criminal organisation had been exposed, whose members had established a systematic practice of bribing senior officials in law enforcement agencies to allow fraudulent call centres and other illegal businesses to operate unhindered.
- It was subsequently reported that the anti-corruption authorities had detained General Serhii Duka, the first deputy head of the SSU’s Department for the Protection of National Statehood.
- The head of the SSU, Oleksandr Poklad, dismissed two senior SSU officials implicated in the NABU investigation as part of Operation ‘Carthage’. He also urged a suspect in the case, known by the alias ‘Mexican’, to return to Ukraine and surrender to the authorities.
- NABU and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) have announced five charges relating to the cover-up of illegal business activities; those implicated include senior officials from the SSU and the National Police.
- On 5–6 November, the main suspects in the case were remanded in custody without the right to bail.
