Bees versus honey? What is the Anti-Corruption Front party and who is behind it?

The Anti-Corruption Front, with an office in the center of Kyiv, was previously a Meritocratic Party

“Death penalty for corrupt officials” – this is the slogan Ukrainian users could see among advertisements on Facebook. Such messages on a red background appeared in the feed for a reason, because the political party “Anti-Corruption Front” spent more than 100 thousand UAH on this in 2023 alone.

However, there are no such expenses in the 2023 financial report. According to the information in it, this party did not pay anyone at all. All financial obligations were assumed by the public organization of the same name.

Why the party, which demands capital punishment for corruption, does not report on its own expenses and what else it does, the “Honestly” Movement looked into.

Advertising...death penalty

Political advertising activity on social networks began to grow in the middle of last year, after a sharp decline in 2022. Advertising budgets are now much smaller, although in some cases they reach hundreds of thousands per year. For example, the Anti-Corruption Front party.

This formation began to conduct public activities in September last year. The party's advertising campaign was limited to disseminating messages with loud slogans on social networks. Among them are demands for the return of the death penalty, the establishment of a “presumption of guilt” for corruption crimes, and the like.

It is interesting that neither on the party’s social networks nor on the party website is there a single face of its representative - all communication is impersonal. According to the Facebook advertising library, more than $3.5 thousand was spent on advertising messages from the Anti-Corruption Front page alone in the last four months of 2023. According to the official exchange rate, this is more than 140 thousand UAH.

Igor Shevchenko, the former Minister of Environment (2014-2015), spent another several tens of thousands of hryvnia on this. He was also the chairman of the party, however, at that time the Anti-Corruption Front (ACF) was the Meritocratic Party of Ukraine. Although Shevchenko does not seem to have an official relationship with the party now, according to YouControl, he heads the public organization of the same name, “Anti-Corruption Front.”

The messages that were advertised from the pages of AKF and Shevchenko are identical - slogans on a red background with corresponding symbols. However, Shevchenko started the campaign a month earlier - in August.

However, the party's financial report for 2023 does not indicate any expenses, not only for advertising campaigns, but for anything at all. According to the report, these advertisements were also not provided free of charge to the party. At the very least, this is not indicated in the section on sponsorship fees. That is, more than 160 thousand UAH remained unreported in just four months.

Party schemes

Not only the Anti-Corruption Front party is registered in Ukraine, but also a public organization of the same name. According to YouControl, it is headed by the already mentioned Igor Shevchenko.

Interestingly, on the AKF website it is indicated that it belongs to the NGO, and not to the party. Although the description already states that the organization’s goal is to come to power and carry out its “anti-corruption program.”

“(This happened) because the site is not a party, but a public organization. Yes, the party has not carried out any activities yet,” explained Igor Shevchenko.

This is not the first time that party-based public organizations have been used – such practice is quite common in Ukraine. Their involvement in party financing is almost not regulated by law. They, like all other legal entities, can be donors to parties. However, in the case of AKF, the organization of the same name does not appear anywhere in the report.

Questions arise not only about the party's advertising costs, but also about the location of its office. At first, according to the report, it was located in Kyiv, on Konstantinovskaya Street, 2a, in Podol. It is there that the party is registered. On the neighboring house, at 5 Spasskaya Street, party symbols were placed.

Both of these premises belong to Igor Shevchenko. The financial report indicates that the office was provided to the party free of charge. However, in December last year, the symbols of the “Anti-Corruption Front” disappeared from the facade of the house at this address.

Instead, she appeared in the center of Kyiv - on Khreshchatyk, 23, in the windows of the former premises of the Zara store, opposite the Central Department Store. According to Igor Shevchenko, the party does not rent an office there, and the banners are simply advertising, and free of charge.

However, this is not reflected in the report itself. It is worth noting. that the banners at this address have been located at least since December 3, 2023, that is, they should have been included in the annual party report.

What does the Anti-Corruption Front do?

Most of AKF's activities come down to social networks and supporting the site's activities. The organization's Facebook page now has almost 350 thousand subscribers. Most messages have the same format: a few sentences in white font on a red background.

The party logo is interesting. He uses the so-called “Svarog square” image, which is common among Russian neo-pagans and neo-Nazis.

A “program for overcoming corruption in three years” has been published on the ACF website. Although the site supposedly belongs to a public organization and not a party, next to this program it is indicated that it will be implemented if the AKF receives a majority in parliament.

Among the proposals: execution for top corrupt officials, presumption of guilt in corruption crimes, legalization of provoking bribes, “confiscation of corrupt property of heirs” and other populist demands.

The section with a list of party cells on the website does not work, but a map with contacts of regional coordinators has been published. In total, the map shows 43 points in almost all regions of Ukraine, but some coordinators are duplicated. For example, Elena Yakimenko’s data is indicated in several points of Kyiv at once. Previously, she was listed as a contact person in tenders of the Ministry of Veterans.

The party leader is Vladimir Zhereb. He is on the list of founders of another party – “Successful Ukraine”. This is also a joint project with Igor Shevchenko. Zhereb’s full namesake works as an assistant to the people’s deputy from the “Servant of the People” Yulia Ovchinnikova.

Igor Shevchenko himself is also interesting. During his time as Minister of Environment, he managed to get into a corruption scandal. In 2015, a criminal case was opened against him for illegal enrichment in office, but it was later closed for lack of evidence of an offense.

Transparency International activists also accused him of a conflict of interest due to flying on a private plane for businessman and ex-People's Deputy Alexander Onishchenko, against whom the United States imposed personal sanctions for interfering in the American elections and participating in the Russian network of external influence. After the full-scale Russian invasion, Onishchenko blamed the US for the war in Ukraine on his Facebook page.