Mykolaiv Anti-Corruption Department defends Integrity Plan publicity: «The information was on the website»

Vitalii Yaroshenko, head of the anti-corruption department of Mykolaiv City Council, responded to criticism from members of the public about the non-public nature of the development of the Integrity Plan. The official said that the order to start the work of the group was published on the official website of the city hall.

He said this during a public discussion of the document, according to NikVesti.

He explained, in particular, that the methodology of the Integrity Plan was developed by order of Denmark and is in fact analogous to an anti-corruption programme:

«This methodology for the Integrity Plan was developed at the request of Denmark. We equate it with an anti-corruption programme. For public authorities, it is an anti-corruption programme, and it is mandatory. For local governments, it is advisory. That is, each community decides whether to adopt such a programme or not. This methodology defines the Integrity Plan as an anti-corruption programme. The first source of information about the activities of executive city authorities is, in my opinion, the city council website. It is not very informative, but you should go there for information. This website has a section for public discussions, and this anti-corruption initiative was published there, so I don't see why you shouldn't go there,» said Vitalii Yaroshenko.

However, this approach was criticised by the expert and public council and they did not understand the logic behind it.

«Do you expect the public to sit and wait for you to publish something there? In fact, it should work the other way round. You plan something and involve the public. This is integrity,» said Artem Vashchylenko, chairman of the council.

Olena Kiseliova, a deputy and head of the Legality Commission, noted that she had only learned about the creation of this document in front of one of the deputy commissions.

«How should the public or the deputy corps know that such an order has been signed? Where do you discuss this, at closed staff meetings? This is the problem. I am the chairman of the relevant commission. With all due respect, I don't know that there is such an order. I have the head of the staff council, who is in your working group and has not said a word about the existence of such a working group. And the first time I saw such a document was when you sent it before the commission,» Kiseliova said.

In response, Yaroshenko noted that back on 15 May 2024, the MPs were provided with information about the creation of the working group and were urged to delegate representatives. However, the MP insisted that the notification was formal:

«On 15.05.2024, the deputy corps was provided with information that such a working group was being prepared, and was asked to provide its members, if desired,» the official said.

«And who did you send it to? If you hadn't written the letter just for show, not through the apparatus... There is a process, there is a structural unit of the executive branch, there is a commission. You have taken responsibility for a very monumental work, but there are problems in the city for which you are definitely not responsible. You are built into this structure. But as a human being, you have to understand that integrity is when as many people as possible know about it. If they see it on the website, that's good. And if they didn't see it, it's even better. It's just for show,» said Kiseliova.

«The website NikVesti also had a publication last year that we were starting to work on this document,» he said.

«The key point is that the website NikVesti, which does not work for budgetary funds, is more informative and a bigger mouthpiece for the community than all the executive branch institutions. This is what dishonesty is. They are skinned to sit and explain how it works. Citizens should not spend time analysing the city council website,» said the deputy.

Voting for the Integrity Plan

During the hearing of the relevant draft decision at the deputy commission on legality of the Mykolaiv City Council, Vitalii Yaroshenko, head of the anti-corruption department of the mayor's office, said that the necessary public discussions had already allegedly taken place in May 2025.

However, the deputies did not agree to adopt the «Integrity Plan» of Mykolaiv without a real public discussion and announced the acceptance of comments and suggestions to the document.

The public expert council of the executive committee of the Mykolaiv City Council also reacted to this and announced their own alternative discussion of the document.

NikVesti also wrote that the draft Integrity Plan of the Mykolaiv City Council aims to reduce the risks of favouritism by deputies and officials in the management of municipal property.

As a reminder, in June 2024, a working group was set up in Mykolaiv to develop the Integrity Plan of the Mykolaiv City Council, which will identify and minimise corruption risks in the work of local authorities.

Earlier, in a commentary to NikVesti at the Conference on the Restoration of Ukraine in Rome, Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych said that in the fight against corruption in the city, he believes that the main thing is not personnel, but systemic changes that make it impossible for officials to abuse.