Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has announced it is inadmissible to let unrest break out in the country over the notorious ruling by the Constitutional Court on access to electronic declarations or use it to discredit Ukraine abroad.
He announced this at a special meeting of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) behind closed doors on October 29, the presidential press service said.
Read alsoCabinet instructs NACP to restore public access to e-declarations register
The meeting addressed urgent measures to be taken by the state after the Constitutional Court had ruled on the unconstitutionality of certain provisions of the Law on Prevention of Corruption and Article 366-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
At the beginning of the meeting, Zelensky stressed the need for an urgent response to the situation that took place after the Constitutional Court had adopted a decision on the anticorruption infrastructure of Ukraine at the request of a group of lawmakers.
"It is not only a matter of this decision, but also in general of the purposeful actions by certain individuals to undermine the social contract in Ukraine and to create a real threat to the national security and defense of our state," he said. "We must not allow this problem to be solved by the street at its own discretion and this or any other decision of the Constitutional Court to be used by the enemies of Ukraine to discredit our country abroad."
Constitutional Court's controversial decision on illegal enrichment: Facts
- On October 27, the Constitutional Court ruled on a motion filed by 47 legislators to repeal Article 366-1 of the Criminal Code, which provides for criminal liability for inaccurate asset declaration by government officials.
- The Constitutional Court also recognized the provisions of laws on the verification of officials' e-declarations as unconstitutional and deprived the National Agency on Corruption Prevention of the authority to check asset declarations and identify conflicts of interest.
- The Constitutional Court, by its decision, blocked the NACP's access to the state registers necessary for conducting special checks on declarations of candidates nominated for top positions in the government. Without such vetting, no head of a government agency could be appointed officially.
- On October 28, the NACP closed access to the State E-Declarations Register.
- On October 28, the Constitutional Court published the text of the respective decision adopted by its Grand Chamber, composed of 15 judges.
- The National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) said that pursuant to the Constitutional Court's decision, all cases of inaccurate declaration of assets would be closed, and government officials convicted of abuse would thus evade liability.
