On August 25–26, 2023, the USAID Justice for All Program conducted a training on “Assessment of Financial Integrity of Judges and Candidates for the Position of a Judge” for the members of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine in Kyiv.
The event was held with the participation of Master of Laws, Dr. Tilman Hoppe (Germany), a former judge and expert in anti-corruption and constitutional law. Dr. Hoppe has supported reforms in more than 40 countries through projects of the Council of Europe, the European Union, GIZ, the OECD, Transparency International, the UN, USAID, the World Bank, and other organizations in Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America. The main focus of his work is property status declarations (disclosure of finances and interests), development of relevant educational publications, practical guidelines, and regulations; conducting trainings; advising on the organization and implementation of disclosure and verification systems; lobbying for reforms, etc.
The Chairman of the Commission Roman Ihnatov noted that an important aspect of verifying the integrity and professional ethics of judicial candidates during the selection and qualification evaluation of judges is to establish the legality of the sources of their wealth. He emphasized the relevance of such an event and expressed hope that with the support of the international community, in particular the USAID Justice for All Program, the Commission members will continue to improve their skills and abilities, which will allow them to overcome the challenges that the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine is facing today.
During the two-day training, the Commission members were introduced to a number of thematic blocks on the application of methods for calculating questionable assets; the ability to use the resources necessary for future financial verification of judges and judicial candidates; and understanding the role of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAPC) in identifying questionable assets.
In addition, detective of the NABU’s Main Detective Unit Maksym Saviuk, Head of the NACP’s Lifestyle Monitoring and Control over Completeness of Declarations Dmytro Sokolov, and Head of the Special Inspections Department of the NACP’s Department for Special Inspections and Control over Timeliness of Declarations Krystyna Detskova, shared their professional experience in assessing financial integrity.
The Commission members also gained knowledge of financial analysis methods, performed exercises to calculate properties of dubious origin; solved practical tasks to simulate an investigation and financial audit, and studied the mechanisms of multi-year calculations.
