Deputy Minister of Finance attended the working group examining allegations of financial violations in the state sector of economy

On 12 May, Deputy Minister of Finance and Chief of Staff Oksana Markarova attended the session of the working group on the examination of allegations declared by the State Financial Inspection regarding financial violations, and violations in the state sector of economy. This was established as per the decision of the Parliament of Ukraine on 10 April 2015.

The Ministry of Finance supports the efforts of deputies to uncover issues of corruption and will make every effort to prevent opportunities for corruption in the future. The Ministry also counts on timely and objective investigation by the working group as well as impartial coverage of information.

During the session Deputy Minister Markarova announced that the State Financial Inspection conducted an unscheduled audit relating to specific issues of financial-economic activity of the Ministry of Finance, as well as compliance with the budget legislation for the period from 1 January, 2011 to 1 April, 2014. The Ministry of Finance agreed with several State Financial Inspection recommendations; however, a number of facts in the act of audit and the conclusions of the audit group were insufficiently justified.

Several of the facts were based on assumptions and a subjective interpretation of the legislative norms by the auditors. These concern, in particular, the determination of the definition (a burden for the budget, budget losses, causing material damage/losses); interpretation of norms of labour legislation on compensation of employees of the Ministry of Finance; making the counter audit of the economic entity, with which the Ministry of Finance has no economic operations, and inclusion of such information directly to the acts etc.

A number of events that are displayed in the act may contain violations, on behalf of the fund administrators, and Ministry of Finance has been actively working on these with the professionals at the Prosecutor General’s office of Ukraine. However it definitely contains incorrect conclusions regarding the violations, relating to the employees of the Ministry of Finance.

This was stated in the letter of objection to the State Financial Inspection immediately following the act of audit, but being unable to find a path to a constructive dialog, the Ministry was forced to appeal these incorrect conclusions to the Court.
The position of the Ministry of Finance was supported by Kyiv District Administrative Court (decision of 24 February 2015) and by Kyiv Administrative Court of Appeal (09 April 2015).

The Ministry of Finance ensures performance of public functions, creates conditions for stable development of the economy by managing the state financing on the principles of effectiveness, sustainability and transparency in the interest of society on the basis of a balanced budget policy.