Ukraine's National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) is about to block access the register of government officials' electronic declarations pursuant to a recent ruling by the Constitutional Court.
This was announced by NACP chief Oleksandr Novikov after he had read the text of the ruling, according to the online newspaper Ukrayinska Pravda.
Read alsoConstitutional court cancels criminal liability for inaccurate declaration of income
The registries were to become unavailable from 18:00 Kyiv time on October 28.
"The Constitutional Court issued the ruling on [October] 27 and today the decision has been published, saying that it is unconstitutional for citizens to have access to information on income, expenses and property of both themselves and all persons who receive salaries from [the money of] taxpayers of Ukraine. The Constitutional Court's ruling throws Ukraine back not to 2013, but to 1991, when, in principle, there was no anti-corruption legislation at all. It completely disables all corruption prevention mechanisms that have been built over the years of independence," Novikov said.
The register will remain unavailable until the Verkhovna Rada adopts a new law that will enable the NACP to make this information public again.
Constitutional Court's controversial decision on illegal enrichment: Earlier developments
- On September 16, the Constitutional Court ruled that certain provisions of the law on the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) are at variance with the country's Constitution.
- In particular, the provisions on empowering the President of Ukraine to form NABU, to appoint and dismiss its director, to appoint three persons to the commission for holding a competition for the position of the bureau's director, to appoint one member of the external control commission to conduct independent assessment (audit) of NABU's effectiveness, its operational and institutional independence, and to approve the provisions on the Civil Oversight Council and the procedure for its formation were designated as unconstitutional.
- On July 28, the Constitutional Court declared a presidential decree dated April 16, 2015, on the appointment of Artem Sytnyk as NABU Director as unconstitutional. The decision was taken on a motion filed by 51 lawmakers. According to them, the then President Petro Poroshenko went beyond his constitutional powers and violated the ban on usurpation of state power. Also, the lawmakers argued that the decree contradicted the provisions of the Constitution, which contain an exhaustive list of the powers of the President of Ukraine.
- 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 inaccurate declaration by government officials of income.
