A bill has been tabled in the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, set to renew the norms to punish officials for failing to file asset declarations or submitting false information on their income and property.
Bill No. 4441 has been authored by a working group of MPs on the settlement of the constitutional crisis.
The draft law to repeal Article 366-1 and supplement the Criminal Code of Ukraine with a new Article 366-2 "Declaring inaccurate information", which lays down liability for public servants for deliberately filing inaccurate information if the gap from the actual volume of assets ranges from 500 to 3000 subsistence minimums for able-bodied persons.
Fines shall be introduced for the relevant violations in the amount of 2,500 to 3,000 tax-free subsistence minimums (from UAH 42,500 to UAH 51,000), public works for a period of 150 to 240 hours, and a ban on certain public positions or engaging in certain activity for up to three years.
The norm shall also apply to people's deputies.
The bill proposes to abandon such type of punishment for the said crime as imprisonment.
Read alsoZelensky's chief of staff unveils action plan to end constitutional crisis in UkraineIn turn, Chairman of the Board of the Anti-Corruption Center (AntAC) NGO, Vitaly Shabunin, says cutting imprisonment out of the criminal code's article text is "sabotage against asset declaration."
Constitutional Crisis: Background
On October 27, the Constitutional Court made a decision on a motion filed by 47 Members of Parliament, having repealed Article 366-1 of the Criminal Code, which provided for criminal liability for the inaccurate declaration by government officials of their income.
The Constitutional Court also recognized the provisions of laws on the audit of officials' e-declarations as unconstitutional and stripped the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) of powers to vet asset reports and identify conflicts of interest.
President Volodymyr Zelensky tabled bill No. 4288 in parliament to terminate the powers of all CCU judges. The document states, in particular, that the decision of the Constitutional Court of October 27 is "null and void."