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Yesterday, alternative draft Anti-Corruption Strategy and National Program for its implementation for 2019-2023 were presented at the conference “New Anti-Corruption Strategy for Ukraine.” TI Ukraine’s legal advisor Oleksandr Kalitenko was an active participant of the strategy development and represented TI Ukraine at the conference. Here are some outtakes.
According to July surveys, Ukrainians consider the anti-corruption reform the most important one to implement. But when we speak about fighting corruption, it is not only about punishment for corrupt acts, it is also about preventing them. So for us, representatives of civil society organizations, it is important not only to bring perpetrators to justice, but also to create conditions that would render those violations impossible.
That is why Transparency International Ukraine has long been working on innovative projects that aim at promoting transparency and reducing corruption-related risks. And the provisions on implementation and active use of corruption prevention tools are precisely what we suggested including in the Anti-Corruption Strategy.
What are we planning to do? Here are the objectives that we have set for ourselves.
1) Implementation of the draft law that would help to improve the ProZorro system and continue the public procurement reform.
Ukrainian and international experts already presented such a document earlier this year. For instance, in the suggested document, the price ceases to be the main and only criterion for selection of the tender winner. Procuring entities will be able to reject proposals with an anomalously low price and thus fight against dumping. Businesses, on the other hand, will be able to fix errors im the documentation within 24 hours, which will reduce the number of rejections and thus significantly improve the quality of tenders.
2) No less important is procurement monitoring by the State Audit Service.
Last year, the State Audit Service of Ukraine finally started working on procurement monitoring. The agency hired new employees, received a special profile in the ProZorro system to monitor procurement and was even provided with a system of risk indicators that automatically look for suspicious procurement.
However, DOZORRO auditors found out that during half a year, the State Audit Service only monitored a little above 3,000 tenders, which means three inspections per one auditor per month. And only 10% of those inspections were initiated when automatic risk indicators got flagged. There are issues when it comes to actual punishment as well. The SASU identified over 1000 violations in the first quarter of 2019, which were never eliminated. The auditors attempted to fine the procuring entities only in 48 cases, and actual fines were imposed only in 6 cases.
That is why we urge to change the SASU management and the auditors’ “motivation.” To do this, the political will of the new Prime Minister is enough, since this agency is only accountable to the Cabinet of Ministers.
When we speak about fighting corruption, it is not only about punishment for corrupt acts, it is also about preventing them. So for us, representatives of civil society organizations, it is important not only to bring perpetrators to justice, but also to create conditions that would render those violations impossible.
Oleksandr Kalitenko, legal advisor
3) Simplification and optimization of sales of bankrupt entities.
On the wave of ProZorro launch, TI Ukraine, Deposit Guarantee Fund, the Ministry of Economic Development and the National Bank of Ukraine decided to launch a pilot project on selling assets of bankrupt banks. It was about online auctions where anyone would be able to participate through affiliated e-commerce platforms.
That is how ProZorro.Sale was born – the third online system after ProZorro and e-Health developed by TI Ukraine and its partners and transferred to the government in order to prevent corruption.
In the autumn of 2018, the Parliament passed a new Code on Bankruptcy Procedures. It stipulated that sales of bankrupt entities’ assets had to take place through electronic auctions. TI Ukraine believes that the ProZorro.Sale system best complies with the principles and requirements of this Code, and should become the administrator of electronic auctions for sale of bankrupt entities’ assets.
The Cabinet of Ministers is solely responsible for this decision. It should identify a capable administrator of the system, because this will determine the success of the entire reform.
It should be noted that by using ProZorro.Sale the government has already made UAH 18 billion.
In the autumn of 2018, the Parliament passed a new Code on Bankruptcy Procedures. It stipulated that sales of bankrupt entities' assets had to take place through electronic auctions. TI Ukraine believes that the ProZorro.Sale system best complies with the principles and requirements of this Code, and should become the administrator of electronic auctions for sale of bankrupt entities' assets.
Oleksandr Kalitenko, legal advisor