PM says Parliament to pass a bill on the confiscation and sale of assets of corrupt officials in September

$1.5 billion pertaining to the Yanukovych’s inner circle and accounts of judges of the Supreme Commercial Court and were blocked by the Government of Ukraine have not been confiscated yet, "This is the responsibility of the Prosecutor General’s Office and the whole justice system. We must work together to combat corruption," underlined Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk in "10 minutes with Prime Minister" on Sunday, August 2.

He recalled that the Government arrested $1.5 billion pertaining to the Viktor Yanukovych’s inner circle: "Just recently in the same way our department on combating money laundering has arrested 13 million of francs in the accounts in Liechtenstein, which belong to a judge of the Supreme Commercial Court."

However, Arseniy Yatsenyuk pointed out that these funds were arrested, but not confiscated, "This is the responsibility of the Prosecutor General’s Office and the justice system. We must work together to combat corruption and bring every criminal case to an end."

"The Prosecutor’s Office, National Anti-Corruption Bureau and judiciary that are fully independent of the Government and the President should do their job. Whoever committed a corruption offense must be in jail instead of sitting at home under house arrest or fleeing the country before being set down on the wanted list. And it is the responsibility of the judiciary and prosecution authorities," the Prime Minister emphasized.

$1.5 billion that were arrested, but not confiscated, could have been transferred to the state budget in order to increase social standards, salaries, build new schools, hospitals and roads," he stressed.

Arseniy Yatsenyuk also highlighted that in September Ukraine's Parliament must vote for the bill, "which makes it possible to confiscate and sell assets of corrupt officials - as it is done in Europe and the United States."