Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko announced on the air of the UT-2 podcast that the State Tax Service will be given access to the financial data of Ukrainians, which is currently a banking secret.
Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko announced on the air of the UT-2 podcast that the State Tax Service will be given access to the financial data of Ukrainians, which is currently a banking secret.
«Definitely,» the minister replied when asked whether tax officials should have access to banking secrecy.
«As the Minister of Finance, I believe that maximum transparency and openness in paying taxes is our future. And we should not be afraid to reveal banking secrecy, which, as we believe, protects us from something. Banking secrecy protects thieves and criminals,» Marchenko added.
He expressed his belief that bank secrecy for tax authorities will still be abolished as part of European integration. At the same time, the head of the Ministry of Finance acknowledged that this may be hindered by Ukrainians' distrust of state institutions.
«And this is something that is difficult for me to argue with right now. Because I don’t know how law enforcement agencies can use this information,» said Marchenko.
In his opinion, that is why only fiscal authorities, and not all law enforcement officers, received access to the banking secrets of Ukrainians.
«The only way to protect this is when we say: we have a protected perimeter, all this information will be in the fiscal authorities and law enforcement agencies will not have access to this information. Only if there is a certain legal basis, this information will be provided,» Marchenko explained.
He clarified that tax officials will not work with the financial data of a specific person, but will analyze arrays of information.
«We work with large data sets, when working with risky clients. We will work with numerical sets. The tax officer will not know who it is. This will be a database and they will work with risks. If a situation arises where for some reason billions of dollars appear in someone’s accounts, not confirmed by anything,» Marchenko added.
We will remind, in October last year, the Verkhovna Rada already tried to abolish banking secrecy for law enforcement officers during the vote on the law «On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine Regarding Improving the Functions of the National Bank of Ukraine in State Regulation of Financial Services Markets.»
In particular, the deputies wanted to oblige banks and other financial institutions to provide information upon request by the National Police, including data on financial transactions and the destinations where funds were transferred. This provision was criticized by the Main Legal Department of the Verkhovna Rada, as it contradicts the Constitution of Ukraine. As a result, the deputies did not support these amendments during the vote on the draft law in the second reading.
In turn, the Chairman of the Board of the NBU, Andriy Pyshny, emphasized that maintaining banking secrecy remains one of the fundamental tasks of the National Bank, which is becoming particularly relevant in light of Ukraine’s integration into the EU.
