Is it true that deputies receive monthly bonuses? We found out. "Vesti"
Deputies expelled from the "party of power" for one reason or another claim that the SN faction receives cash bonuses. The figures they cite vary, ranging from $5 to five-digit sums. And such payments, they say, exist not only in SN but also in other factions.
Moreover, such "motivation" is nothing new for veterans. Similar bonuses were established in previous Verkhovna Radas, and current parliamentarians are even "cheaper"—in the 6th and 7th convocations of the Verkhovna Rada, they often paid even for individual votes, and the bonuses sometimes amounted to the current deputies' monthly salary. Vesti investigated how and how much "gray" money deputies receive.
"Deep Content"
Those deputies who were expelled from the faction are talking about additional payments in the SN. MP Anna Skorokhod was the first to angrily announce the "converted" monthly salaries in the faction immediately after her expulsion.
"I was just told that I offered $3 (allegedly to other deputies for a positive vote in a Rada committee – Ed.), but here the salaries are $5 in envelopes. You saw it yourself, and there were documented cases of envelopes and other things being handed out," Skorokhod said in November 2019, when the new Rada had only been in office for three months.
MP Alexander Dubinsky, who was summarily expelled from the SN, also hinted at the existence of envelopes, calling the phenomenon "envelopes of profound significance." And Geo Leros, also a former "Servant of the People," provided more detailed information: according to him, after parliament failed to appoint Yuriy Vitrenko as Minister of Energy for the first time on December 17, the amount in envelopes for those "servants" who abstained or did not attend the vote dropped.
"The deputies who didn't vote were underpaid half their salaries last month in cash. And this motivated many to vote now," Leros said, adding that the amount had been reduced threefold.
And in early February, Telegram channels dropped a dirty bomb, posting a supposed photo/screenshot from a parliamentary chat (a real work tool) where "servants" were discussing "salaries." A certain Elvira asked, "Sorry, but as far as I know, everyone's having this problem now. Those who had 30 [meaning $30 – Author] only got six. Those who had 20 now get five."
The head of the SN party and deputy head of the faction, Oleksandr Kornienko, debunked the correspondence as fake: there is no one named Elvira in the party or its secretariat. "This is very easily verified. Moreover, one of my faction chat colleagues wondered if Kornienko really wrote such a thing. He rewinded back to 2019 and couldn't find any instances of me making such comments in our community chat, like 'we're going to private chat right now, we can't talk about such things here,'" Kornienko told reporters, citing his official salary—in the range of 30–40 hryvnias.
Bonus system
Vesti's sources, former members of the SN faction and aides to current deputies, reveal the amounts received by deputies and how they are distributed. They speak anonymously: one of our sources said he fears pressure on himself.
"They have one common fund, filled with both kickbacks from the 'Great Construction' project and sponsors of certain decisions. As far as I know, Rinat Leonidovich (Akhmetov – Ed.) has gotten them hooked," one of the MPs tells us. "At first, the 'ordinary' MPs' bonus was $5. But when the budget was being passed (for 2021 – Ed.), their salaries were raised to $25, because there was a fuss about the budget items, when they started allocating funds for 'construction' instead of healthcare and other essential items."
Incidentally, whistleblower David Zhvania also wrote about corruption in Ukravtodor on his Telegram channel last November. He cited a similar figure: "About a third of the money that goes there ends up in officials' pockets... From this money... deputies are paid salaries in cash—starting at $15 per month."
However, this salary level isn't fixed. According to our source, his colleagues from the "party of power" receive differentiated payments: a bonus system has been introduced. "It's ironic, even ridiculous: they monitor their attendance, speeches, committee work, and votes. The OP has been keeping statistics since 2019, specifically tracking them using a special program—it's possible to derive indicators for each deputy. It turns out that everyone can "subtract" from their salary envelope, and deputies sitting next to each other and occupying the same rung of the hierarchy can receive significantly different amounts," one former SN MP explained.
According to Vesti, this is what happened when the vote for Yuriy Vitrenko's candidacy for the post of Energy Minister/Deputy Prime Minister failed. Those deputies who didn't support him in the chamber, according to our sources, received significantly smaller amounts as "penalties." "They give extra pay for public speaking: if you're willing to defend your position, you get a bonus. Those who speak in the media get an extra $10—and not everyone," one of the deputies' aides told Vesti anonymously. "Many of the 'servants' don't take the envelopes: they're afraid they'll be recorded and then kept on the hook: 'You took it, now get back here!'"
"The older groups distribute"
The situation with parliamentary sub-factions, or "groups," within the monopoly, is also curious. One of Vesti's sources recalled the dissolution of the "Pavlyuk group": approximately 30 "servant" MPs aligned themselves with influential businessman Ilya Pavlyuk until December 2019. According to media reports, they were caught working for Rinat Akhmetov. Afterward, the group itself, led by Dmitry Solomchuk, was dissolved, the number of groups within the faction was reduced from 15 to 14, and Solomchuk was then demoted to a regular MP. "In previous convocations, MPs were 'motivated' wholesale, until the end of their term. Now they're incentivized in groups, and they're trying to prevent incidents like the one with the 'Pavlyukites,'" our source explained.
Nevertheless, according to the deputies, the "distribution" of envelopes from the OP is handled by the leaders of those very same subfactions. "The senior members of the groups, there are 14 of them in total, distribute them—(Pavel) Khalimon, (Yuri) Mysyagin, and others. But there are also verbal agreements, when a person also works for a specific oligarch—then they receive two envelopes at once: from the OP and from the beneficiary who brought them into the Rada or incentivized them after the elections. I know of three colleagues as of 2019: two women and a man received such envelopes containing $5 from the OP plus $5 each from their beneficiary. And that's not all—there are "situational" payments, and there are also regional considerations: a group may, on principle, not accept money from the OP, but only from its "seniors," the MP explained to Vesti. According to some reports, the change in regional overseers, which Vesti reported on a month ago, may have been linked to the intention to "rework" the financing schemes.
The situation is similar in other factions and parliamentary groups. Some of our sources claim that parliamentary groups such as "Dovira" (which often adds votes when there aren't enough) and "For the Future" (which bears the ironic name "For Maybach") are better off than others. Meanwhile, in the Opposition Platform - For Life party, the supplements are intended for "low-income" MPs: the combined income level of this faction's members is the envy of any other.
"Opposition members verbally condemn the distribution of cash in envelopes, but their approach is exactly the same. After all, the faction needs to be held together; there's no ideological glue anywhere," Igor Petrenko, a political analyst at the International Center for Advanced Investigations, told Vesti. "In previous convocations, they paid out truly enormous sums: for example, during the period of 'tushkovaniya' (when the institution of the 'imperative mandate', which made it impossible for a deputy to switch factions under threat of resignation – Author), in 2006-2007 and 2010-2012, sums of several million dollars were mentioned." Based on this, the level of the problem today is somewhat lower than it was in previous convocations. But does this mean that the extra payments are disappearing?
Lobbying Law or Salary Increases
It's important to understand: only those deputies who were forced to leave the majority faction are talking about bonuses, "incentives," and cash envelopes. Whether they are motivated by resentment, a desire to restore justice, or other moral and ethical considerations remains their own responsibility.
"I'm not reacting to this: let them tell their stories. Some of the deputies you listed were in our faction for such a short time that it's difficult to say whether they have any grounds for making this up," SN MP Igor Fris told Vesti. "This topic has been raised in every convocation of the Verkhovna Rada, but it has never been confirmed or definitively refuted. Today, such 'insinuations' are aimed at destruction or to coerce other deputies into taking a certain position."
This undoubtedly sensitive topic has been around for over 20 years. According to our expert sources, only the Verkhovna Rada of the first and second convocations lacked various bonuses and/or incentives. In 2012, two BYuT faction deputies, Andriy Kozhemyakin and the late Roman Zabzalyuk, announced they had been paid 3,6 million hryvnias (approximately $450) to leave their political party. They took the money, demonstrating to the entire country the scale of the problem in the form of a neat "cube" of 200- and 100-hryvnia bills.
"A deputy decides on issues that cost billions, sometimes, as in the case of the state budget, trillions. But their salary is only 30–40 hryvnias, plus expenses for their duties as a deputy. The figures are incomparable," says Petrenko. "In other countries, the salary structure is different, allowing for a more or less decent living."
A member of the Polish Sejm, for example, receives approximately 8 zlotys (approximately 60 hryvnias) per month. Additional allowances are also provided: +10–20% for leadership of committees and subcommittees.
"It will be impossible to eradicate parliamentary envelopes in the coming years—the legislation is imperfect. And the answer to the question of whether this constitutes corruption is unclear: people with varying income levels have become deputies, and entire teams of former aides and employees of party leaders and groups have joined them. And they remain subordinate," says political scientist Vladimir Volya. "We need to improve corruption legislation and implement a law on lobbying activities that would penalize such incentives for deputies."
Igor Fris says his colleagues are currently working on the draft law "On Lobbying Activity." "There are some ideas—deputies from another faction gave it to me to review," the deputy tells Vesti. "As for raising salaries, it would be inappropriate today and would definitely be poorly received by society."
In topic: Verkhovna Rada's vehicle fleet: how much did deputies drive in 2020?
Heaven and earth: why officials are resigning en masse due to salary shortages
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