Yuriy Ivaniushchenko, a close acquaintance of President Viktor Yanukovych from the ruling Party of Regions who hails from the president’s hometown of Yenakievo, is the lawmaker most frequently absent from parliament, a watchdog has found.
He missed
six of seven sessions in the legislature, found a study conducted by Chesno, a nongovernmental
organization.
The group’s
research confirmed what many parliamentary reporters have long been aware of –
that Ivaniushchenko attends parliament only on special occasions. He was last
seen in parliament on Feb. 6.
As a
lawmaker in the previous parliamentary convocation from November 2007 to December
2012, Ivaniushchenko didn’t submit any legislative bills or make official
parliamentary inquiries, according to the Verkhovna Rada website.
Ranked as Ukraine’s
18th richest person by Korrespondent magazine with an estimated net worth of
$645 million, Ivaniushchenko, 54, appears to have more urgent matters other
than to engage in parliamentary activity.
Ivaniushchenko’s
aide, responding to the allegations, said she was surprised to see her boss at the top of a truancy ranking, saying Ivaniushchenko
was attending all parliament sessions last week.
Ivaniushchenko’s attendance record has never been cause for
concern for parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Rybak. In fact, Rybak was more
concerned about a member of the opposition working as a lawyer. It was Rybak’s court
complaint that led to Serhiy Vlasenko being stripped of his mandate for
allegedly combining his lawmaking duties while serving as legal defense counsel
for imprisoned ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
Pavlo
Baloga, another Party of Regions member, was named the second most “truant” for
missing five of seven sessions in parliament. Baloga, however, lost his parliamentary
seat in early February after the High Administrative Court contested the
election results in his constituency.
Third place
was shared among 10 lawmakers, who missed four of seven sessions. This group
included six lawmakers from the Party of Regions, two from the opposition
Batkivshchyna Party, one Communist Party member and one independent.
It’s
remarkable that all of them are known for their business activity except for Petro
Symonenko, the Communist Party leader known for his lavish lifestyle and
anti-oligarchic rhetoric.
Ukraine’s
legislature held seven sessions in its first 100 days, Chesno reported.
In this
time, lawmakers made 48 decisions. They also had 53 days off or vacation time,
according to Opora, another political watchdog.
Members of
parliament also blocked the parliamentary lectern for 10 days.
Lawmakers
receive an average monthly salary of Hr 17,000 (more than $2,000) regardless of
where they spend their working hours, Valentyn Zaichuk, parliament
administration’s chief of staff told the Kyiv Post.
Kyiv Post staff writer Oksana Grytsenko can be
reached at [email protected]
