In rebuff of G7, Ukraine's Rada approves controversial Accounting Chamber appointments

The Verkhovna Rada ignored the warnings of the ambassadors of the Group of Seven (G7) and appointed members of the Accounting Chamber. 247 MPs voted for the motion.

The Group of Seven advised Ukraine to first change the terms of the contest to the Accounting Chamber and only after that to elect new members.

"The G7 Ambassadors are concerned about reports the Verkhovna Rada is rushing for new Accounting Chamber appointments this week, before its reform is completed. Until the reform law is passed, these appointments would undermine confidence in the institution charged with overseeing international assistance," the ambassadors said in a statement on Tuesday.

The arguments of the G7 did not convince the parliamentarians, and they appointed four new members of the chamber for six years:

→ Yelyzaveta Pushko-Tsybulyak (accountant of the State Bureau of Investigation)
→ Serhiy Klyuchka (head of department at the State Audit Service)
→ Olha Pishchanska (former head of the Antimonopoly Committee)
→ Kyrylo Klymenko (head of the NGO Center for Support and Development of Entrepreneurship)

According to the conclusions of the European Commission regarding Ukraine's application for EU membership, Ukraine should expand the mandate of the Accounting Chamber and introduce the use of international auditing standards.

In November, the head of the budget committee of the parliament, Roksolana Pidlasa, announced that a working group on reforming the Accounting Chamber with the participation of representatives of the European Union and the United States would appear as part of the committee.

Currently, the Accounting Chamber has only eight members out of the 13 provided by law.

In April, the parliament fired the head of the Accounting Chamber, Vasyl Patskan, who is suspected of corruption.

His predecessor, Roman Mahuta, was also involved in a NABU criminal proceedings. He was accused of alienating an office apartment into the private property of a relative, but was acquitted.