A scandal has erupted after several members of the Verkhovna Rada alleged that changes had been illegally made to Ukraine’s 2015 budget after it was passed on Dec. 29.
Critics claim the budget was passed with a number of procedural violations, as lawmakers were unable to see the actual figures they were voting for. Some have now lambasted what they see as an excessive deficit, predicting an imminent default and arguing that the budget is populist rather than reformist.
Viktoria Voitsytska, a Samopomich party parliamentarian, told the Kyiv Post that the capital expenditures stipulated in the budget had been raised from Hr 4.5 billion to Hr 5.5 billion, and the allocation of those expenditures had also changed. Voitsytska said that the clause on oil and gas giant Naftogaz had also been altered, and there were other changes as well.
“I don’t understand why this was done,” she added.
Samopomich have not yet made a decision on whether to request a criminal investigation of the presumed falsifications. Voitsytska believes the lawmakers should first assess whether it was caused by negligence or ill intent.
She told the Kyiv Post she had voted against the budget because of the irregular way in which it was adopted, with the Cabinet, the People’s Front Party and the Petro Poroshenko Bloc all pushing for the budget to be adopted in a late-night session on Dec. 29, arguing that a financial disaster would ensue if it were to be postponed.
“It’s wrong to vote just because (lawmakers) don’t want to be late for their planes,” Voitsytska said. “How can you vote for a budget without seeing the figures?”
The Batkyvshchyna party has also lashed out at the budget.
Some of the alleged illegal changes directly benefit lawmakers. Andiy Pavlovsky, a Batkyvshchyna member of parliament, posted on Facebook today that Verkhovna Rada members’ monthly wage had been raised to Hr 12,100 from Hr 5,600 as a result of falsifications. Expenses for the Verkhovna Rada increased by 38.5 percent, he wrote.
Batkyvshchyna leader Yulia Tymoshenko kicked off the row on Jan. 12, claiming that changes had been illegally made to budget clauses related to government decentralization and tax law.
Verkhovna Rada Speaker Volodymyr Groysman denied the accusations however.
“Everything stipulated by the budget today fully corresponds to the minutes (of the parliamentary session) and to the decisions that were made (on Dec. 29),” he said.
But he said that parliamentary committees would look into the allegations.
According to the original draft budget, revenue amounted to Hr 475.2 billion, spending stood at Hr 527.2 billion, and the deficit totalled Hr 52 billion hryvnias. However, the final budget figures following all changes made to it were not available.
Kyiv Post staff writer Oleg Sukhov can be reached at [email protected].
