At its meeting on December 21, the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian Parliament) voted to appoint four members of the Accounting Chamber (AC).
According to the MP from "Voice" Yaroslav Zheleznyak, Elyzaveta Pushko-Tsybulyak, Serhiy Klyuchka, Kyrylo Klymenko and Olha Pishchanska were elected as new members of the AC. The latter was proposed to be made the head of the AC, but this proposal was not supported.
Zheleznyak indicated by factions how many MPs voted for members of the AC.
Who was chosen?
Yelyzaveta Pushko-Tsybulyak — since 2020, she has been working at the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) as the head of the Department of Financial Activities and Accounting, chief accountant.
Serhiy Klyuchka is the deputy director of the department at the State Audit Service of Ukraine. Before that, he worked in the Department of Affairs of the Verkhovna Rada Apparatus.
Olha Pishchanska was the head of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine in 2020-2023.
Kyrylo Klymenko is a freelance consultant of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on the Organization of State Power. In September 2023, he was appointed adviser to the Minister of Social Policy on public grounds.
Members of the Accounting Chamber are appointed for a term of 6 years.
Critics
Previously, the ambassadors of the G7 countries publicly called not to appoint members of the Accounting Chamber until the selection procedure was changed. They noted that prior to the adoption of the reform law, these appointments would "undermine confidence in the institution responsible for overseeing international aid."
Even earlier, the ambassadors stated that reforming the Accounting Chamber is a chance "to show the world that Ukraine manages international aid and the resources of its own citizens well." Diplomats emphasized that the appointment of a new leadership should take place only after the adoption of legislation. It should be transparent, based on the competition and verification of candidates.
The head of the Accounting Chamber Andriy Maisner also wrote that it is risky to solve the personnel issue of the AC on the basis of imperfect legislation.
The non-governmental organization Transparency International Ukraine notes that today the procedure for electing members of the RP is formal and does not contain clear criteria for evaluating candidates.
"There is no testing to confirm knowledge. There is also no assessment of professional ethics and integrity. And the level of candidates at the interviews was mostly weak," the organization added.
TI Ukraine calls to cancel the results of this competition, based on the results of which the above-mentioned four candidates were chosen, to improve the selection procedure at the level of the law, and only after that to re-announce the competition.
- The Accounting Chamber is a body that controls the receipt and use of budget funds. He is also responsible for overseeing international aid. RP has been without a full-fledged head since April 2023 after its head Valerii Patskan was declared no-confidence. He is a suspect in the case of illegally receiving compensation for housing in 2017-2018 in the amount of 117.65 thousand hryvnias, when he was a peopleʼs deputy.