The Ukrainian National Bank pretends to lend ear to the public opinion in the country that has practically revolted against the NBU’s requirement to exchange currency only with a document proving one’s identity and citizenship provided. On October 4 Valerii Lytvytsky, head of advisory group at the head of the NBU explained: in order to prevent the abuse of passport photocopies taken during the currency exchange operations they have to be stamped. “Thus it will be impossible to use these copies for further currency exchange operations,” Lytvytsky informed Interfax of Ukraine and reminded that photocopies are protected by the law on bank secrecy and the banks will be criminally responsible if they violate this law.
Probably, photocopies are protected. They cannot be either robbed or sued to the court for an unpaid credit, etc. But who will trouble to protect people cheated because of their personal information disclosure? Our people trust neither the police nor the courts and do not want to take the risk.
Meanwhile, the NBU that refers to the decree valid since the time when Leonid Kuchma was the prime minister and issued under conditions of hyperinflation and permanent devaluation of the national currency is stacking the deck. The decree provides for showing passport when selling and buying currency but does not provide for photocopying the document. It has to be done with the only legal and logical purpose: to limit the foreigners in currency exchange in order to prevent them from speculating in the currency and damaging our country.
The Ukrainian legislation does not provide for any limitations for the Ukrainian residents when exchanging currency. Foreigners have to obey other rules. So, the Ukrainian residents have to enjoy their right of currency exchange by showing passport. Why did not they go as far as photocopying the documents in that “decree” time that was even slightly dictatorial from the point of the current Constitution? Either because of the photocopiers deficit and their high price or because the human rights and the ones of citizens were respected in our country slightly more than now. This norm has been implemented on NBU’s initiative (shaking the faith in our banking system again). No doubt, a good lawyer could find an article in the Criminal Code for such actions, for example, exceeding one’s authority. An employee at the Ministry of Justice that registered the disastrous NBU’s decree No. 278 informed that the arrogant supreme regulator will soon have to abrogate this decree.
However, this person spoke too soon since the NBU could have hardly exceeded it authority without getting the go-ahead from the government beforehand. It is no coincidence that Vice Premier and Minister of the Infrastructure Borys Kolesnikov has confidently claimed that the new currency exchange rules will not affect the football fans and will not have any negative consequences for Euro-2012 in Ukraine.
Kolesnikov cares mainly about the tourists from abroad but the head of government Mykola Azarov has to protect the rights of our citizens not to disgrace himself. He promised that the NBU will “correct” its decree. Of course, he did not precise how exactly and when since, as we know, the NBU is completely independent.
Meanwhile, almost two months after the abovementioned decree was adopted the head of the advisory group says that the NBU is just going to extend the list of documents permitting to buy currency (now it only includes the Ukrainian passport). Have the Ukrainians calmed because of his assurance that the NBU is acting in the context of corruption fight reinforcement and the desire to implement the European principles of money laundering fight? “We want to show that the legislative acts must not be ignored,” Lytvytsky said.
Actually, Arsenii Yatseniuk (NU-NS, chief of the party Front of Change) expressed the same opinion in his action to the Circuit Administrative Court of Kyiv. It emphasizes that gathering, keeping, using, and spreading the information about physical persons, including the confidential information about physical persons, can be only realized with the authority of law. The decree of the NBU is not a law and leads to the violation of the rights and legal interests of the people provided by the Ukrainian Constitution and the Law “On information.” The action emphasizes that the NBU has no right to require from the banks to perform operations and other actions that are not provided by the Ukrainian legislation. That is why Yatseniuk considers the decree unlawful and the one that outrages the rights of Ukrainian citizens and has to be judicially abolished.
