Citizens of the regions are receiving increased material assistance at the expense of local budgets because these funds were previously allocated on the repair of schools, hospitals, and stadiums.
The local budgets for 2019 in several regions of Ukraine have sharply increased the amount of targeted assistance to the population, which is used as a bribe to voters.
This is stated in the investigation of Bihus.Info.
“At the beginning of February 2019, the Dnipro City Council allocated an additional 140 million hryvnias to provide targeted financial assistance to residents of the city who are in difficult life circumstances. In the local budget, these funds were removed from the repair of schools, hospitals, and stadiums,”- the article states.
Compared to previous years, the amount of material assistance has increased almost tenfold.
At the same time, the procedure for issuing it was as simple as possible – in order to receive assistance, it is required only to write an application and submit copies of your passport and identification code. After huge queues of people began to gather for the money, the local council nevertheless returned the old practice and started asking for supporting documents.
“But, according to activists, state employees still continue to give money through a simplified procedure. To do this, they are asking to fill out the application “posteriori”,” – the investigators claim.
Similar queues at the beginning of the year were recorded in the Odessa region, where also 1000 hryvnias were distributed in a simplified procedure.
Odessa Regional Council has thrown an additional 90 million hryvnias for material assistance to the population. Compared with previous years, the amount again increased tenfold. It is planned to distribute this money to pensioners with a pension of up to 2.5 thousand hryvnias.
In addition, the budget for assistance increased by 2.5 times in Kherson, five times – in Kiev. About 9 million were laid this year in the city of Vasilkov, Kiev region.
“For comparison, 9 million in a small town is 30% more than it was planned in the regional center Poltava. This money is enough to give out 1000 hryvnia to every fourth resident of Vasilkov,” the journalists say.
In Vasilkov, the police are investigating a case of bribing voters through material assistance.
Journalists talked to the residents of the city, who received the money. Some of them said that they had learned about such a possibility during election polls.
In addition, financially sufficiently wealthy people are on the lists for help.
“In early March, when the money began to arrive, we again talked to people by telephone on behalf of representatives of the city executive committee. When asked who they would vote for, the majority responded with the phrase “As agreed”, which may indicate bribing. One resident of Vasilkov also announced the name of a specific candidate – for Petro Poroshenko,” the investigation says.
With an accusation on the bribing of voters for budgetary funds, the journalists appealed to the Presidential Administration, where any involvement was denied.