“Kamikaze” increased their wealth by millions: ministers published income declarations

“Kamikaze” increased their wealth by millions: ministers published income declarations

As follows from the income declarations published by the ministers for the year 2015, members of the Cabinet of Ministers last year earned a total of 33,113 million hryvnias.

This is a third less than 2014, when the government’s total income exceeded 47 million hryvnias. Another about 17 million hryvnias were earned last year by relatives of government members, notably $56,34 thousand, listed as income of Natalia Yaresko’s daughters.

Three ministers, in addition to their primary salaries, received income outside Ukraine. Health Minister Oleksandr Kvitashvili – $93 750, Finance Minister Natalia Yaresko – $18 339, and 3030 euros were paid to Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko as reimbursement of travel expenses to Strasbourg at the Council of Europe.

Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk with an income of about 1,97 million hryvnias ranks lower than two of his colleagues – Pavlo Petrenko, who received almost 4 million hryvnias, and Oleksandr Kvitashvili, who earned 2,5 million (most of this amount outside Ukraine).

Minimal incomes – about 75 000 hryvnias – for Minister of Culture Vyacheslav Kyrylenko, head of the Ministry of Social Policy Pavlo Rozenko, and Minister of the Cabinet Hanna Onyshchenko.

In any case, whether modest or very high – these data raise doubts. Not due to deceit by declarants, but due to the imperfection of the system of controlling state employees’ incomes.

“The data in the declarations do not reflect the real welfare of officials at all,” notes Hlib Lobov, head of the territorial branch of the Association of Taxpayers of Ukraine in Kyiv region. “Their welfare is illustrated more by cars under state institutions and watches costing two to three years’ wages. Obviously a zero declaration will not be filled out by our official, fearing reputational losses, and accounting for expenses when from 50% to 70% of the economy is in the shadow is also an ineffective measure.”

Anatoliy Amelin, venture investor, founder of the Amelin Strategy analytical center, notes that the declaration form, in particular, does not include items on disclosure of large expenses, such as foreign vacations, or expenses exceeding a certain limit (for example, the size of a monthly salary).

“The declaration allows data to be duplicated. For example, sold real estate must still be shown as property in the reporting period, just as income from its disposal,” Amelin says.

There is no culture of declaring both income and assets in Ukraine. “Especially when we talk about officials of all ranks. Therefore, most likely 99% of our officials’ declarations contain conscious or unconscious errors,” notes Erik Naiman, managing partner of Capital Times.

Another Forbes interlocutor in the banking sector notes a clear discrepancy between what society expects to be in the declaration based on the official’s lifestyle, and what is actually seen there. “Judging by the apparent poverty in the declarations, the practice of ‘telling lies’ is widespread. It suits them that citizens tolerate this: secretly Ukrainians understand that if they found themselves in these conditions, they would behave the same,” he believes.

In Lobov’s view, no anti-corruption mechanism in Ukraine will be effective until an incorruptible body responsible for its enforcement appears. “These should be modest specialists with a salary of $5000 per month and a bonus 40–50% of disclosed bribes,” Lobov suggests.

start.co.ua