Several non-governmental organizations have called on President Volodymyr Zelensky to veto a bill restricting public access to real estate registers, the online newspaper Ukrainska Pravda reported on Aug. 26.
The NGOs argue in a joint statement that the restrictions will be a major obstacle to exposing corruption and journalistic investigations.
The bill was approved by parliament on Aug. 21 with 263 votes in favor, 3 against, and 24 abstentions. To become law, it needs to be signed by the president.
The legislation seeks to ban public access to registers linked to national security and defense during martial law and for one year after it ends.
It would also ban access to information on the location and cadastral number of real estate owned by all legal entities.
The NGOs demand that access to information be restricted not for all legal entities, but only for defense industry enterprises.
"Corrupt properties are often registered to legal entities associated with an official's inner circle. Now, all of this is done with limited access for us," Martyna Bohuslavets, head of the Anti-Corruption Center MEZHA, , said on Facebook on Aug. 22.
Among others, the NGOs that signed the statement include the Anti-Corruption HQ, the Kharkiv Anti-Corruption Center, and the Closed Data Conference.
