ZELENSKY VETOES OFFICIALS' ASSET DECLARATION BILL AFTER ANTI-GRAFT PROTEST

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By Oduola F.A.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vetoed a law compelling public officials to declare their assets after local anti-corruption activists protested that the legislation delayed the disclosures by a year.

Zelensky has emphasised the need of transparency during the war, with several corruption scandals leading to the arrest or dismissal of public officials in recent months.

“Declarations should be open. Immediately. Not in a year. The registry should be opened now,” Zelensky said.

More than 80,000 Ukrainians last week signed a petition asking Zelensky to veto a law that would restore mandatory asset declarations for officials. However, the petitions included the delay, prompting a public campaign that assailed the rules as lacking transparency.

A petition urging Zelenskiy to reject the law was launched by an injured solider recovering in a military hospital who gathered the required 25,000 signatures in a few hours.

“These restrictions are unacceptable,” Zelensky said, asking parliament to vote on opening the registries.

The author of the petition, Oleksandr Yabchanka, a senior lieutenant from the Da Vinci Wolves battalion, recently wounded at the front, told AFP he was “very happy” about the news.

“I live in a democratic country where public opinion has weight,” Yabchanka told AFP.

According to a poll released at the end of July by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS), 89 percent of Ukrainians consider corruption a serious problem, only second to Russia’s invasion.

Several corruption scandals have rocked the defence ministry in recent months, leading to the resignation of defence minister Oleksiy Reznikov.

Since Russia invaded in February last year, Zelensky has repeatedly vowed to fight corruption in Ukraine — a key demand from Kyiv’s Western allies.