An Alternative for Mr. President

I’m not sure if it’s going to surprise you but President Poroshenko turned out to be simply incapable to fill in his electronic declaration correctly, even though he keeps on blabbering of fighting the corruption all the time and takes credit for the introduction of the declaration system.

According to my calculations, President Poroshenko concealed 2.6mln UAH from the National Agency on Corruption Prevention. He did it intentionally or mistakenly, but still he did. The concealed money was obtained as interest from the belonging to him International Investment Bank.

Total interest income from the International Investment Bank received and declared by Poroshenko in 2017 was 15.8mln UAH. However, Mr. President informed the National Agency of only 13.2mln UAH thereby hiding the income of approximately 100k USD received in 2017.

In the course of a thorough analysis of Poroshenko’s declaration for 2016, there was almost 10mln UAH more missing in his income declaration.

As you have got to know from the news, Poroshenko indicated his income received as interest on deposits in the International Investment Bank (hereinafter IIB) once again. As at November 2018, the interest on deposits reached more than 12mln UAH.

Having analyzed his declaration for the previous year (2017), I found out that Poroshenko had 25.5mln USD and 10.8k USD deposited in the International Investment Bank and the swiss Rothschield Bank AG accordingly.

And 15.8mln UAH was received by him as interest income from the deposits in IIB in 2017.

Poroshenko notified the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (hereinafter the National Agency) about the essential changes of his financial situation during the year 2017. Those changes referred to the interest income he had received from IIB in 2017:

On January 12, 2017 he received 729k UAH

On February 3, 2017 he received 732k UAH

On March 2, 2017 he received 665k UAH

On April 6, 2017 he received 910k UAH

On May 10, 2017 he received 865k UAH

On May 11, 2017 he received 359k UAH

On June 9, 2017 he received 1.3mln UAH

On July 7, 2017 he received 1.2mln UAH

On August 3, 2017 he received 1.2mln UAH

On September 5, 2017 he received 1.2mln UAH

On October 4, 2017 he received 959k UAH

On November 3, 2017 he received 1.1mln UAH

On December 6, 2017 he received 980k UAH

On January 5, 2018 he received 1.03mln UAH (the changes for 2017 should be provided within 10 days from the date of income acquisition).

So, if we take into consideration all the notifications to the National Agency that Poroshenko did to let them know about changes of his financial situation (there were 14 notifications), the total income received as IIB interest in 2017 is 13.2mln UAH.

However, the data in Poroshenko’s annual declaration for 2017 show quite the other numbers. It is indicated in there that the interest income paid by the International Investment Bank reached 15.8mln UAH.

So, the income was overrated by 2.6mln UAH.

There are only three options to explain the situation:

The first option (and the least possible): 2.6mln UAH was paid to the President due to the paragraph 2 of the article 52 of the Law ‘On Corruption Prevention’. According to this law, Poroshenko was obliged to notify the National Agency if the financial situation of the party subject to declaration, that is acquisition of income exceeding 50 subsistence minimums set for able-bodied people, was changed. The notification had to be filed in writing within 10 days from the date of income or property acquisition.

The subsistence minimum was 1.600 UAH as at January 1, 2017. So the amount of a one-time payment, the President could receive allowing to not notify the National Agency, was maximum 80k UAH. Having done simple calculations, one can come to a conclusion that in this very case the International Investment Bank would have to make at least 50 one-time payments more (80k UAH/1.600 UAH = 50 payments). In that case there would have been at least 64 interest income payments made during the whole year!!

The second option: The data on 2.6mln UAH received as interest income by the President was not provided to the National Agency what he had to do in writing within 10 days from the date of income acquisition, acc. to the article 52 of the Law of Ukraine ‘On Corruption Prevention’.

According to the paragraph 4 of the article 45 of the Law of Ukraine ‘On Corruption Prevention’, Mr. Poroshenko could have filed an edited declaration for 2017 with his income information corrected, if he had only acknowledged the calculation mistake. However, Poroshenko decided to ignore such a legal provision.

So according to the article 366-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, a (possibly) deliberate declaration of false information, the main character of my investigation namely President Petro Poroshenko is accused of, entails:

a fine of 2,500 to 3,000 times the individual income tax exemption limit or community works for a period from 150 to 240 hours or imprisonment for a term of up to two years with deprivation of the right to occupy certain positions or carry out certain activity for a period of up to three years.

The third option: there took place the legalization of the illegally acquired money.

According to the article 366-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, if the National Agency finds out any evidence proving possible illegal enrichment of the Ukrainian President, he will be subject to imprisonment for a term of up to two years with deprivation of the right to occupy certain positions or carry out certain activity of up to three years with confiscation of property. In the case set out above, the possible illegal enrichment may be represented by acquisition of significant assets with no legal grounds provided to confirm their acquisition by the person authorized to perform functions on a state or local levels.

A similar situation took place in 2016. Then, the annual interest income received by Poroshenko from the International Investment Bank comprised 11.9mln UAH, but there were filed only three notifications to the National Agency:

On November 7, 2016 about 1.9mln UAH acquired

On November 28, 2016 about 146k UAH acquired

On December 1, 2016 about 438k UAH acquired.

So the factual discrepancy gap may have reached 9.4mln UAH. Taking into account the subsistence minimum of 1600 as at January 1, 2016, it means that during the year of 2016 the International Investment Bank had to do at least 118 payments of maximum 80k UAH each.

According to the Article 50 of the Law ‘On Corruption Prevention’, the National Agency has to check the declaration on misleading data specified, if any, based on the information obtained from individuals, legal entities, mass media or other sources of information.

I ask to let me know the results of:

- this public appeal to the National Agency on Corruption Prevention to be considered

- the offer set forth to Petro Poroshenko in the headline to be considered.