The Transparency International anti-corruption organization has called on the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to suspend Head of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) Natalia Korchak from office during the investigation into abuse of office.

"We call [on Ukraine] not to repeat the mistake of August 2016, when, due to the lack of professionalism and dependence of the NACP leadership, the procedure for obtaining a visa-free regime between Ukraine and the EU was almost disrupted. It was then that the unprofessional work of the NACP head disrupted the launch of the electronic declaration system, but the results of the official investigation by the Cabinet of Ministers into this situation were kept secret from the public and no personnel decisions were made," Executive Director at Transparency International Ukraine Yaroslav Yurchyshyn said on Tuesday, November 14.

According to a report released by Transparency International, Korchak's presence in the post makes it possible for her to influence NACP employees, witnesses and the investigation procedure in general, so the decision to suspend her from office completely corresponds to international standards.

In addition, the organization said that the full responsibility for Korchak's serving as NACP head during the investigation will be placed on the government leadership.

As reported, Head of the Department for Financial Control and Lifestyle Monitoring at the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) Hanna Solomatina said on November 14 that e-declaration checks were being falsified and asked the anti-corruption authorities to investigate the facts of illegal actions and suspend Korchak from office during the investigation into abuse of office.

According to Solomatina, Korchak has not signed the decisions on conducting special checks since January 2017, and there were about 4,000 of them, and out of the 1.5 million declarations currently available in the system, only 91 declarations were verified.