Political parties must submit financial reports for past four years - anti-graft watchdog

The chief of the National Agency for Corruption Prevention, Oleksandr Novikov, stated this on the air of the national telethon, Ukrinform reports.

"Parties in Ukraine have been receiving taxpayer funding since 2016. That is, taxpayers finance parties. This funding is linked to reporting so that citizens can see who is funding political parties to ensure that they work in the interest of Ukraine’s citizens and not financial or industrial groups. From 2020, due to Covid, and then due to war, funding was suspended, and only on December 26, the obligation for political parties  to file reports was reinstated. Now that political parties submit reports, citizens will be able to publicly see who finances them,” Novikov informed.

He said this would ensure that parties are financed exclusively by Ukrainian citizens and businesses, not by oligarchic groups or the aggressor state.

"Due to the fact that funding was suspended, we learned that some parties were financed, including by Russia and Russia-affiliated individuals," said the NACP chief.

Novikov added that all political parties shall submit financial reports for the past four years. Branches of political parties located in the temporarily occupied areas are exempted from the obligation to file financial reports.

Besides, political parties are allowed to deposit their funds in banks.

As reported earlier, the amendments to legislation on control over the funding of political forces entered into force on December 26.

The document reinstates the obligation for political parties to submit reports after a nearly four-year hiatus caused first by COVID-19 restrictions and later – by martial law. The National Agency for Corruption Prevention Prevention has once again been entrusted with auditing those reports.