The bill on buying off corrupt officials from prison will be amended.
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Betrayal is cancelled, assures the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk.
Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk said that the committee agreed that the law must necessarily provide for the issue that only those who have fully compensated for the damage and actively cooperate with the investigation will be able to “buy off”.
Moreover, such a person must help the investigation to bring to justice other co-organizers of the crime.
That is, not only a fine, not only atonement, but full compensation and surrender of other accomplices – these are the conditions and grounds for applying a plea agreement. And this will not be applied to all crimes, – the speaker explained.
At the end of last week, the Verkhovna Rada adopted in the first reading a government bill that could have a significant impact on the fight against corruption in Ukraine. We are talking about agreements with investigators in cases of corruption crimes. The bill, in particular, proposes that a fine could be applied to corruption offenses as an additional punishment in the event of a plea agreement.
Fines, depending on the severity of the crime, according to the draft law, may amount to between 12 thousand and 12 million non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens. For the classification of an administrative or criminal offense, the non-taxable minimum is currently 1,514 hryvnia.
If a plea agreement is approved, the court decides to release the person from serving the sentence on probation if the parties to the agreement have agreed on a sentence of imprisonment for a term of no more than eight years or another more lenient sentence on probation. The probation period in this case will be from two to six years.
The bill, which was adopted in the first reading, has drawn criticism from anti-corruption activists. The Chairman of the Board of the Anti-Corruption Action Center (ACAC) Vitaly Shabunin believes that if the bill comes into force in this form, it will allow corrupt officials to legally buy their way out of prison.
Are you an MP or a minister and you were caught taking a bribe? No problem! Paid a fine, compensated for the losses – that’s it: have fun. No prison for you (even confiscation will be an option)! Stole a billion, got caught for another 100 million, compensated them, paid another 200 million in fines and live and enjoy the 700 million you “earned,” – commented on Facebook the head of the board of the Anti-Corruption Action Center (ACAC) Vitaly Shabunin.
The Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) warn that the draft law needs significant revision. Their comments concerned the fact that the application of probationary release to the organizer of a corruption crime is subject to two conditions – the exposure of another organizer and compensation for damages.
Without taking these changes into account, the draft law will still contain corruption risks, the SAP stated.
Source: Racurs
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