Ukraine’s electronic asset declaration system for officials, launched in September, revealed officials’ mind-boggling wealth, with fairy-tale mansions, luxury cars, Pablo Picasso paintings, high-end furniture and the finest vintage wines there for everyone to see.
But then nothing happened. There has been no effort to check the origin of the wealth.
It’s as if there’s a building with walls made of glass, and everyone can see theft going on inside. But no one can do anything about it.
Since September, not a single official has been prosecuted for lying in their declarations or for unlawful enrichment. The National Agency for Preventing Corruption hasn’t completed a single check of incumbent officials’ declarations.
After the National Anti-Corruption Bureau launched investigations against two lawmakers based on their declarations, Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko on May 24 blocked motions to prosecute them, claiming there were errors there.
Well, it would be naive to expect thieves to punish themselves. Instead of prosecuting corrupt officials, the authorities have wreaked vengeance on anti-graft activists by forcing them to file asset declarations identical to those of officials.
Natalia Korchak, head of the anti-graft agency, awarded herself bonuses worth $20,000 in 2016 for doing nothing but obstruction. And yet her agency investigated Yulia Marushevska, an ex-official and critic of the authorities, over an $18 bonus.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has gone even further and hidden its declarations both from the public and the anti-graft agency, citing a state secret.
Zaporizhzhya Oblast Governor Kostyantyn Bryl has concealed his assets by saying he also moonlights for the SBU, but quit the agency and revealed his declaration on May 23. He has nothing to fear – he will not be punished under the current government.
But this house of glass will one day come crashing down, and its tenants will have nowhere to hide.
