President Viktor Yanukovych’s Party of Regions says it wants to fight corruption – just not quite yet.
The Constitutional Court on March 20 ruled in favor of 53 lawmakers from the party, who had argued that the law ordering them to declare their expenditures should be delayed.
The law requires all parliamentary deputies and state officials to declare income, expenditures and property owned by them and their families.
The court’s ruling means that the first declarations will not be made as planned on April 1.
Consitution expert Ihor Koliushko said they will most likely have to be made next year.
This falls conveniently after parliamentary elections scheduled for October.
President Viktor Yanukovych’s Party of Regions says it wants to fight corruption – just not quite yet.
The lawmakers argued that they hadn’t been obliged to keep records before the law went into effect on Jan. 1, and therefore couldn’t be expected to make declarations for that period.
This is the slippery legal squirming of people who have something to hide.
Anti-corruption legislation was passed last year after years of foot-dragging, but that hasn’t been the end of the story.
The court also ruled on March 20 that lawmakers and officials are allowed to own shares in companies, allowing those who appear to guide state policy to suit their private interests to breathe a sigh of relief.
Despite all the high-level bluster about fighting corruption, these two decisions show the real attitude of Yanukovych and his cronies.
They want to continue buying luxury houses and cars way above the prices that their salaries should allow and, most importantly, they don’t want anyone to know about it.
Given the desire of the president’s party to keep their expenditures hidden, the logical conclusion is that they have something to be embarrassed about.
This small step toward transparency, which could help pull Ukraine up from the lower reaches of corruption rankings, needs implementing, not delaying.
