As it is known, on February 16, the Verkhovna Rada adopted the draft law No. 3755, the text of which was proposed by Vadym Denysenko, MP from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc faction, in an oral form, without proper discussion and prior consideration by the committee. The amendments adopted to the Law “On the prevention of corruption” would have destroyed the system of electronic declaration for the civil officers even before its launch. It also posed a threat to the implementation of the EU Visa Liberalization Action Plan.

Having responded to the public criticism and warnings of the international partners, President Petro Poroshenko has vetoed the proposed amendments and returned the draft law with his proposals.

In particular, the proposals of the President of Ukraine provide for the following:

• Introduction of electronic declaration in 2016, starting from senior officials, judges, and prosecutors.
• Criminal responsibility for inadequate information in declarations shall be introduced in 2016, as it was planned before. At the same time, the responsibility is diminished: proceedings shall be instituted only if the difference exceeds 250 minimum wages, i.e. more than 300 thousand UAH. Sanctions alternative to imprisonment are provided for.
• Introduction of administrative responsibility for inadequate information in declarations for the sum from 100 to 250 minimum wages, i.e. if the difference is less than 140 thousand UAH, a declarant shall bear no responsibility.
• Definition of declarant’s family members has not been changed.
• Thresholds of declaration for valuable moveable property and expenses have been increased (up to 100 and 50 minimum wages respectively). They are lower than thresholds established by the draft law No. 3755.
• The regulation whereby declarants shall indicate contractors in their agreements has been excluded. At the same time, the declarant shall indicate them at the request of the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption.
• Introduction of several important amendments demanded by experts and included into the draft law No. 3787: determination of the procedure of amending the declaration; obligation of the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption to check the declaration on the basis on information published in media; obligation of the institutions where the declarants are employed to check whether the declarations have been submitted on time, etc.

Despite serious flaws (such as excessive diminishing of responsibility), the President’s proposals can be considered as a compromise under the present-day circumstances. The amendments were also agreed with the EU, which is important for obtaining a visa-free regime.

Adoption of these amendments will allow to launch a fully-fledged system of electronic declaration this year.

Therefore, the Reanimation Package of Reforms civil platform calls on the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to adopt the proposals of the President of Ukraine in full and to launch the system of electronic declaration for public officials. 

Best regards,
RPR Group “Anticorruption Reform”