Ukrainians shocked at politicians’ vast wealth
Print Edition
AN anti-corruption reform requiring senior Ukrainian officials to declare their wealth online has exposed a vast difference between the fortunes of politicians and those they represent.
Some declared millions of dollars in cash. Others said they owned fleets of luxury cars, expensive Swiss watches, diamond jewelry and large tracts of land — revelations that could further hit public confidence in the authorities in Ukraine, where the average salary is just over US$200 per month.
Officials had until Sunday to upload details of their assets and income in 2015 to a publicly searchable database, part of an International Monetary Fund-backed drive to boost transparency and modernise Ukraine’s recession-hit economy.
Prime Minister Voldymyr Groysman, who last week likened the declarations process to jumping out of an airplane, revealed that he and his wife had a total of US$1.2 million and 460,000 euros (US$503,943) in cash and a collection of luxury watches.
The database also shows that Groysman, a former businessman and provincial mayor, is not alone in preferring to keep much of his money out of Ukraine’s banking system.
Reuters calculations based on the declarations show that the 24 members of the Ukrainian cabinet together have nearly US$7 million, just in cash.
The declarations of two brothers in President Petro Poroshenko’s faction, Bohdan and Yaroslav Dubnevych, show holdings of over US$26 million, also in cash only.
Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko, who declared US$1 million in a bank account and a further US$500,000 in cash, said officials’ decision to hold cash pointed to a mistrust in the banks that many Ukrainians could relate to.
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