Due to the tough pressure from the European Union, International Monetary Fund and other agencies calling for severe anti-corruption action, the campaign of income declaration was launched in Ukraine. Several times local politicians tried to modify its rules, to make the data undisclosed to the general public, but the final decision resulted in one of the world's most exacting declarations campaigns.
What did Ukrainians learn from it? How can the declaration campaign results be interpreted?
$ 470,000,000. This is the amount of the money kept by Ukrainian MPs, including $ 270,000,000 in cash.
$2,000. This is the average yearly income of a working person.
$56. This is the minimal monthly salary as of October 2016.
$800,000 in cash, 6 luxury cars, 550 square m elite house, 38 pieces of art, 2 apartments in Kyiv are declared by the chief of Financial Intelligence.
Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko promises to check every MP that has more than $ 100,000 in cash. Good luck, as his wife, Irina Lutsenko, MP, declares $ 280,000.
President Petro Poroshenko submits his income declaration the last moment: a hundred of companies all over the world, even in China and the British Virgin Islands - everything for a successful ROSHEN confectionery business.
The society is knocked down. It was known that MPs are rich, but nobody could have imagine to what extreme extent they are rich. And even more disgusting is that many MPs and officials managed to multiply their assets in 2014-2015 - the time when common people were giving every cent to support the Army in its fight with Russian aggression. One of the MPs proudly announced to the journalists that after he had donated $ 200,000 to the Army, he had every moral right to spend a million or two on himself.
Another group of people whose riches made people despise them are judges and prosecutors. Most of these people have never been into business, they worked for the state, their yearly salaries were much lower than $10,000 - and yet they have luxury cars and elite real estate. Sometimes their swagger makes no sense - there is a case of a minor prosecutor that lives in a state dormitory but drives a Volkswagen cabriolet and an Infiniti.
Social networks are full of comments about need of the third Maidan protest. Yanukovych was into embezzlement; but those who overthrew him are also embezzlers of public funds.
The income declaration is to submitted each year. The first wave applied to the top officials; National Agency on Corruption Prevention estimated that more than 100,000 declarations were provided. The second wave concerns less important public figures, e.g. CEOs of state-owned companies.
Anyway, the politicians still underestimate the effect of the income declarations. Today, when asked where their riches originate from, they claim the made fortunes before they became public servants. Even if they were 18 at that point. Since next election the confronting candidates will use the income declarations in PR campaigns against their adversaries. And no way a voter with $ 5 in a pocket will support a billionaire involved in tax evasion.
It is important to note that this campaign was not the first time the declarations were submitted in Ukraine. Already in 2012 every candidate fro parliamentary elections provided a declaration. But it was rather limited and the data was not checked. 2015 income declaration campaign revealed that Ukrainian public figures had much luck in marriages: their wives / husbands are extremely good at business.
Another fact to remember is that this was not a zero declaration. Nobody is asked automatically to pay taxes on their assets. And the assets are not considered to be cleared.
Corrupt officials must consider the words of Confucius: In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of.
