Anti-corruption program of Odesa regional council not approved

The National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAPC) has refused to approve the anti-corruption program of the Odesa Regional Council for 2025-2027, pointing to numerous shortcomings.

This was reported by the Dumskaya newspaper, citing a letter from the NAPC.

In particular, the publication noted that the program, according to the NACP, has confusion about who it applies to. For example, the chairman of the regional council and his deputies are not listed, but they are mentioned in the text. However, there are no clear indicators (KPIs) to assess whether anti-corruption measures are being implemented or not. In addition, no risks were identified in such important areas as municipal property management, the budget process, public procurement, contractual work, and others.

In addition, the program of the regional council, as stated in the letter, ignores the public: there is no information about proposals from external stakeholders (the public, experts) and the results of their consideration.

The program was not discussed with the public, the deadlines for adoption were missed, and the results of similar documents in previous years were not analyzed. There were only 8 sheets of comments.

Within a month and a half, the regional council must conduct a repeated, proper assessment of corruption risks and eliminate all the shortcomings noted by the NACP. And then submit the revised anti-corruption program for re-approval.

It should be noted that in July, Hryhorii Didenko, the head of the Odesa Regional Council, ordered to start preparing for the session of the regional council scheduled for September 12. The last date for submitting draft resolutions of the regional council for consideration at the plenary meeting of the regional council session was August 12. Consideration of the draft decisions received by the regional council at meetings of the standing committees of the regional council is scheduled from August 20 to September 4.

Кирило Бойко