Anti-Corruption Court critical for cooperation with Ukraine – World Bank

Setting up the new High Anti-Corruption Court in Ukraine is critical for the country’s continued cooperation with the World Bank, said Satu Kahkonen, the Bank’s Country Director for Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine.

The National Anti-corruption Bureau and the Special Anti-corruption Prosecutor’s Office had already forwarded to court some 90 corruption-related cases but no rulings were handed down ever since, the WB representative said, speaking at a TV panel show on 1+1 TV channel.  

The problem should be resolved with the establishment of the High Anti-Corruption Court, she believes.

As the same time, WB insists that certain provisions of the draft law be eliminated as they delay the introduction of the new legislation.

The World Bank representative noted that “the number of judges is undefined in the law,” however the “draft law says the court cannot be established before all the judges are selected.”

“It’s inconsistent. So it would be important to define the number of judges, a reasonable number, and there is no reason to wait for all the judges to be selected,” said Satu Kahkonen.

Read alsoEU reiterates Ukraine's Anti-Corruption Court bill should be in line with Venice Commission's recommendationsAs UNIAN reported earlier, on Jan 22, 2018, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko submitted to Parliament a draft law on the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine. The International Monetary Fund said that the bill’s provisions are inconsistent with the obligations Ukraine undertook before international partners. In turn, Petro Poroshenko noted that the bill had been drafted in line with the Ukrainian Constitution and recommendations of the Venice Commission. The World Bank said that the adoption of the new legislation in its current version, proposed by the President, would be unacceptable.