Nepotism in Rada: At least 15 “servants of the people” hired the relatives as assistants – Schemes

Journalists found that the wives of the Stefanchuk brothers, people's deputies, became assistants as a public service (without salary). The wife of Ruslan Stefanchuk, the first vice-speaker of the parliament, Maryna helps the people's deputy Danylo Hetmantsev, who heads the committee on financial, customs and tax policy. Oksana Muzyka-Stefanchuk works with her husband, people's deputy, Mykola Stefanchuk. 

Liudmyla Buimyster, a people's deputy, appointed her husband as the assistant on a voluntary basis. Yurii Koriavchenkov and Ihor Vasyliv, "the servants", have their wives work as a public service as well.

Oleksandr Sanchenko made his father an assistant on a voluntary basis. Some deputies appointed brothers as assistants, in particular, Oleksandr Skichko, Mykola Kyrychenko, Bohdan Yaremenko, and Ihor Kopytin. The latter's brother is an adviser to the subcommittee on defense industry and technical modernization of the national security committee according to the parliament's website, although people's deputy Kopytin denies it.

"We don't solve any issues in the negative context in which they perceive nepotism," Heorhii Mazurashu explained. The people's deputy has his brother, with whom he "baptized children," as an assistant. 

Several deputies' relatives became assistants permanently, with salaries and bonuses. The husband of Maryna Nikitina, the deputy, received a salary as her assistant for half a year. In March this year, she asked to fire her husband. During his time on the post, he earned about UAH 95,000.

Volodymyr Tymofeichuk asked for a salary of UAH 24,000 for his relative, his assistant. The National Agency for Prevention of Corruption (NAPC) stated that the people's deputy acted "in the conditions of a conflict of interests". Now, this case is being conducted in the Pechersk district court.

"The Servant" Maxym Berezin asked to assign UAH 48,000 salary to his brother, whom he appointed as an assistant on the first week of him being a deputy. Commenting to reporters, he said that "being an assistant on a voluntary basis is not a violation of the law."

The son of the first assistant to the president, Serhii Shefir, became the assistant to the deputy head of the Servant of the People party, Yurii Kysil, and asked for a salary increase and a bonus.

The authors of the investigation write that most deputies explain appointing relatives by their professionalism. In particular, Oleksandr Sanchenko, whose father works as his assistant, stated that "nepotism is when they take and appoint someone incompetent."

Oleksandr Skichko stressed that his brother-assistant has three higher educations, studied in England and Ireland, received an MBA in economics, and sometimes advises the people's deputy on legal issues.

"Assistants receive this license, which allows them to solve certain issues," a researcher at the Center for Eastern European and International Studies, Kostiantyn Fedorenko, told reporters. He stressed that in some EU countries, they do not allow parliamentary assistants to visit the hall of power and government agencies.

Schemes recalled the president's campaign promised "no nepotism" in the country of his dreams and only "intelligence, education, talent and conscience, not baptizing children together" will be the reason for the appointment.

According to journalists, after they asked the deputies about their assistants at the party congress of the Servant of the People on August 31, they included a draft law banning deputies from hiring relatives in the parliamentary agenda the next day.

The Verkhovna Rada adopted this draft law as a basis, and 252 deputies in total supported it on September 17. They registered it in the parliament in October last year.

Schemes pointed out that some "servants of the people" with relatives-assistants did not vote: Liudmila Buimyster and Oleksandr Sanchenko. Bohdan Yaremenko "abstained" when deputies voted on in the second reading.