On November 30, the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) noted that the draft law No. 4441, developed by the Working Group, envisaged only fines and community service for officials that intentionally failed to submit declarations or knowingly provided false information.
Yesterday, on December 3, the Committee on Law Enforcement of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine considered this and other related draft laws. As a result of consideration, it was decided to submit a new draft law (No. 4460-d).
The NACP notes that this draft law also does not envisage imprisonment for either intentional declaration of inaccurate information or for intentional failure to submit a declaration.
However, individuals that intentionally indicate inaccurate information for as much as 4,000 amounts of minimum subsistence level (UAH 8.4 million) should be punished by restriction of liberty (but not imprisonment) for up to 2 years.
That is, the maximum punishment for a corrupt official to stay in a correctional center, where he/she will be able to freely use means of communication (telephone, Internet) and leave the center with permission of its management. Also, in 6 months the possibility of registration of such an official can be considered – he/she will no longer need to stay in the center, but only to attend it from time to time.
“A corrupt official can deliberately hide information about a painting by Pablo Picasso or the most expensive yacht in the world and get a maximum of two years of “sanatorium conditions”. I am confident that such a proposal of the Committee does not meet the requirements of Ukrainian society,” said Oleksandr Novikov, NACP Head.
The NACP continues to hold to a unified stand: intentionally providing inaccurate information amounting to more than UAH 1 million should entail imprisonment. At the same time, the draft laws that can become the basis for addressing the issue, in our opinion, are the following:
- 4434, initiated by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky;
- 4310–1, initiated by Serhiy Ionushas, Denys Monastyrsky and Andriy Kostin, MPs of Ukraine;
- 4310, submitted by Iryna Herashchenko, MP and other representatives of the ‘European Solidarity’ faction.
The draft law of the Verkhovna Rada’s Committee on Law Enforcement offers “sanatorium” conditions for corrupt officials