Lost donation: did the Ukrainian National Bar Association and bar councils really not transfer funds to the armed forces?

Recently, DEJURE Foundation highlighted how the Ukrainian National Bar Association (UNBA) has been concealing the amount it has transferred to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other law enforcement agencies since February 24, 2022. It now appears there was a reason for this secrecy: it seems no funds were transferred at all.

DEJURE recalls that the court has twice mandated the UNBA to disclose this information. In response to the first ruling, UNBA claimed that bar councils transferred approximately 10 million UAH to support the Armed Forces. Additionally, UNBA stated that 345,000 UAH were transferred to the special account of the National Bank of Ukraine for army needs on February 28, 2022. However, the provided UNBA letter only included a payment order for the transfer to the National Bank, without any proof that 10 million UAH were actually sent to the Armed Forces. Notably, the UNBA attempted to keep this letter under wraps, sending it solely to the state executor, not to the plaintiff.

Meanwhile, lawyer Artem Donets sent inquiries to the General Staff of the Armed Forces, the Ministry of Defense, the National Police, the Security Service of Ukraine, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, asking whether they received financial or humanitarian aid from the UNBA, bar councils or the Higher Qualification and Disciplinary Commission of the Bar. All these agencies confirmed that they had not received any support from the mentioned bodies.

Since the beginning of the full-scale war, the UNBA has declared its support for the Ukrainian military in the fight against Russian aggression. However, the association has failed to provide evidence to back these claims and has even tried to conceal related data. The responses from law enforcement agencies suggest that UNBA’s declarations are likely unsubstantiated, raising renewed concerns about potential Russian influence on the leadership of the Ukrainian legal profession.