E-declaration system will have a limited impact without efficient declarations verification
By launching a system of electronic declaration and monitoring of property, revenues and expenditures of public servants in September 2016, Ukraine has made a huge step in the fight against corruption. It was this reform that played a key role in making the final positive decision by the EU countries to grant Ukrainians a visa-free regime. In particular, thanks to the introduction of electronic declaration, Ukraine also improved its position in the Transparency International Corruption Index by two points (from 27 to 29).
At the same time, unprecedented levels of transparency revealed an unexpectedly high wealth of officials, which irritated Ukrainians and astonished international partners. A year ago, civil society representatives warned that without further verification of electronic declarations and prosecution for unreliable information, the results of the reform could cause frustration in society, and the declaration system from a key anti-corruption tool would turn into a problem.