The Constitutional Court, when deciding to lift criminal liability for inaccurate declaration of assets (Article 366-1 of the Criminal Code), acted in violation of regulations and amid conflict of interest, the president's envoy to the CCU has told UNIAN.
"The court acted in conditions of an actual conflict of interest, since there is a criminal proceeding underway under this article against one of the judges and potentially criminal proceedings under this article are possible with regard to several more judges. The judges, obviously, acted in violation of restrictions established by law on actions in conditions of a conflict of interest and in violation of regulations of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine," said Fedir Venislavsky, President's Representative in the Constitutional Court.
According to Venislavsky, the corresponding article of the Criminal Code will lose force, and all criminal proceedings initiated on the said charges shall be terminated, as per the CCU ruling.
Read alsoConstitutional Court judges rule on "inaccurate asset declaration case" in own interests – NAPCHowever, according to the presidential envoy, criminal liability for inaccurate asset declaration should be unambiguous from the legal regulation perspective.
"There should be responsibility for inaccurate declaration. If there is no responsibility for inaccurate declaration, it makes no sense to vet declarations and establish that there are inconsistencies between the incomes that that the subjects actually have, including the judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, with those that they declared. Obviously, there should be liability for such actions," he stressed.
Venislavsky suggested that on the initiative of either the president or the people's deputies, a corresponding bill would be submitted to Parliament on reestablishing criminal liability for inaccurate declaration. But, he added, now the authorities need to wait for the publication of the CCU ruling to see the reasoning behind the move to rescind the Article from the Criminal Code.
“Until we see the motivation of the COP, it is difficult to predict anything. The decision of the Constitutional Court is final and binding on everyone. On the other hand, there is no doubt that there should be liability for false declarations. We will look for models taking into account the position of the Constitutional Court and continue our decision-making," he summed up.
