Head of Rada Committee Hetmantsev predicts reboot of Economic Security Bureau before year-end

It is possible and necessary to reboot the Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine (ESBU), which has so far failed to demonstrate its effectiveness, as described in the Memorandum with the IMF, by the end of this year, Danylo Hetmantsev, head of the parliamentary committee on finance, tax and customs policy, has said.

"I think that by the end of the year, we should put everything in order there," he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

The head of the committee said that the appearance of this clause on the reorganization of the ESBU in the Memorandum was not accidental since the partners followed the activities of the Bureau and were also dissatisfied with its results, just as we were not satisfied with them inside Ukraine.

"ESBU is the most important body in the field of control over the use of funds, which they [partners] provide us now and will provide for recovery. It is the number one body. And it is impossible to leave this direction in a state it is now. Tax policemen should not make up 80% of the personnel," Hetmantsev said.

He said that in addition to amending the legislation on ESBU, it is necessary to conduct an attestation and appoint a new leader with the participation of international experts.

"By the way, we want to do the same in customs and tax," the head of the committee added.

Commenting on the clause of the Memorandum with the IMF on amending the law on financial monitoring by the end of September to restore enhanced due diligence requirements for politically exposed persons (PEP) in accordance with a risk-based approach in line with FATF standards, Hetmantsev recalled that he had not voted in the past year for the abolition of this norm in the Rada.

"I don't want to shock anyone, but… the issue of PEP is a sensitive issue only for PEP. And, of course, these persons must comply with the standards that exist throughout the world. And the approach applies worldwide: "Once a PEP, always a PEP," he said.

According to the head of the profile committee, the main problem, why the proposal to weaken control over PEP found support in the Rada, was "an exclusive problem of law enforcement by (Ukrainian) banks."

Hetmantsev explained that the risk-based approach to the PEP control will be returned to the law.

"You become a PEP for life, but depending on what your financial activity is, the bank may or may not classify you as high-risk. It will be enshrined in the law," he said. And he admitted that to avoid a repetition of the situation when banks were reinsured and tightly controlled everyone to the point of inadequacy, such safeguards would have to be prescribed directly in the text of the law.

Source: www.en.interfax.com.ua