BIHUS.Info journalist has been waiting for a reply from the VR regarding the deputies' funds for almost a month

Journalist, BIHUS.Info editor Maksym Opanasenko has been waiting for almost a month for a response from the Verkhovna Rada Apparatus to his information request regarding the use of budget funds for the deputies' work. He reported this on his Facebook page and spoke about this to IMI in more detail.

"I have been waiting 28 working days for an response to a simple request to the Apparatus of the Verkhovna Rada. To the question 'so, when?' I hear the answer 'when it's ready.' A law-making body cares not at all about the law. To my other request, they replied with a clearly intentionally damaged copies of documents where neither text nor numbers were visible. I asked them, 'wtf,' and they answered, 'Our scanner is buggy, wait for a while: maybe the lad will come and fix it, we will send it to you in 20 days,'" he wrote.

In his comment to IMI Maksym Opanasenko said that he had sent the first such request at the end of July.

"It was one request regarding all the deputies that we were interested in. In response, we received a letter stating that they have information about each deputy separately, but since we are asking for all of them, it requires systematization and collection, which is not provided for by law," the journalist said.

Therefore, in August, he decided to send separate requests for each deputy, and in five days he heard that all his requests had been registered, but since he was asking about many people, the deadline was extended by 20 days.

"I sent it on August 11, and received the reply about the deadline extension on August 15. The 20 working days ended on September 9. From that moment on, we have been calling the VR Office every day, the last time I called them was yesterday (September 19. – Ed.). In response, I heard that 'the work underway, we cannot name the date, but I will receive an answer by e-mail.' The request to invite me to review the requested information – to speed up the process – was declined. Then the consultant just hung up," Maksym Opanasenko said.

Roman Holovenko, a lawyer at the Institute of Mass Information, notes that compiling the data on many deputies is not the collection or creation of new information, if the names of these deputies or their affiliation to a faction or committee are known. "It is also very surprising that the VRU Apparatus has dysfunctional equipment, because usually in bureaucratic institutions, all equipment is registered and has a responsible person assigned to it, who should arrainge the repairs at first sight of significant dysfunctions. Defective equipment is not a reason for delay in satisfying a request under the law on access to information," the lawyer said.