The Parliament returned electronic declaration, but the register will be closed

The Verkhovna Rada voted in the second reading in favor of draft law No. 9534 on the return of electronic property declarations of officials and civil servants, but rejected the key amendment 371 on making the declarations open immediately. That is, the register will be closed for another year — no one will publicly see the fortunes of employees.

The opening of e-declaration is demanded by Ukraineʼs partners, in particular the countries of the "G7" and the European Union, but the corresponding amendment from the head of the anti-corruption committee Anastasia Radina received only 199 of the 226 necessary votes, Peopleʼs Deputy from "Holos" Yaroslav Zheleznyak said.

The head of the "Servant of the People" faction, Davyd Arakhamiya, clarified that the law contains a provision according to which the declarant can voluntarily open his declaration to all people, not only to the checking bodies.

This law is a requirement for European integration and effective cooperation with the International Monetary Fund. A number of deputies say that President Volodymyr Zelenskyi may not sign this law.

Also, today, the Rada voted in the second reading and in general for law No. 9587-d on punishing officials for untimely submission of declarations.

It proposes the automated imposition of fines on declarants who submitted their declaration late. The system of the electronic office of the Unified State Register of Declarations will itself record untimely submission, and the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption will create a resolution on the imposition of a fine. It will be collected even when the declaration was not submitted for good reasons.

Zheleznyak added that this document was also adopted with amendments — the deputies voted for amendment 25, which allows avoiding punishment if the declarant "forgot to declare the property" for 1.3 million hryvnias. He believes that this law will also receive a technical veto.

• On July 27, the Verkhovna Rada took the first step towards the restoration of e-declaration — 299 Peopleʼs Deputies supported the corresponding bill No. 9354. The main innovation of the draft law is that declarations will need to be submitted not only for this year but also for previous ones (starting in 2021). Until the signing of the law, martial law allows submitting e-declarations voluntarily.