13.02.2020
Wikiinvestigation project detected the pressure on the corruption whistleblower.
The EU-funded project of crowdsourcing investigations of corruption Wikiinvestigation detected the first pressure on the corruption whistleblower after the Amendments to the Law of Ukraine 'On Corruption Prevention' Concerning Corruption Whistleblowers came into force on January 1, 2020.
Following an investigation “Poor our Officials or How to Get a Car Without Paying Customs Duties” published on the WikiInvestigation platform, its author, a corruption whistleblower, sent a crime report to the Ivano-Frankivsk Police Department. It later turned out that Police allegedly leaked personal information of the corruption whistleblower to the other party. As a result, the deputy of the Ivano-Frankivsk regional council Mykola Droniak used personal phone number of the whistleblower for calling him and pressuring to withdraw the report.
The investigation is about Halyna Droniak, chief specialist of the sector of adoption, guardianship and child care of the Service for Children of the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional State Administration.
August 6, 2019, Droniak received a 2014 Mercedes-Benz from Adam Koval (a foreigner who “gifted” humanitarian cars to five officials). She did not mention gifted car in her declaration as a significant change in the property status (car cost 283621,82 UAH) in accordance with the procedure established by the law, violating anti-corruption legislation of Ukraine.
Following the investigation, the corruption whistleblower sent a crime report to the Ivano-Frankivsk Police Department.
"The whistleblower himself was unable to contact police to check the status of his report. However, on February 12, he was called by Mykhailo Droniak, the husband of Halyna Droniak, and a deputy of the Ivano-Frankivsk city council. Mr. Droniak tried to pressure whistleblower to withdraw crime report from the law enforcement agencies," states Director of Innovation and Development Foundation-Ukraine and WikiInvestigation project Liudmyla Ievsieienko, adding that it obviously happened because the officers of the Ivano-Frankivsk Police Department had leaked the personal data of the corruption whistleblower indicated in the report!
"The cynicism of this situation is that usually you expect police officers to investigate possible crime, however, they chose to provide the whistleblower's personal data including his phone number to the husband of a convict," stated Mrs.Ievsieienko, adding:
“We warn that the pressure on the corruption whistleblower is unacceptable and the violators will hold responsibility in accordance with the law! The persons responsible for withdrawing personal data of the corruption whistleblowers will also have to face consequences”.
January 1, 2020, the Amendments to the Law of Ukraine 'On Corruption Prevention' Concerning Corruption Whistleblowers came into force.