The Verkhovna Rada adopted a package of anti-corruption laws which had been developed by the Ministry of Justice aimed at the implementation of Ukraine's commitments on the way to a visa-free regime with the European Union.
In particular, there were adopted the laws "On amendments to the Criminal Procedural Code of Ukraine regarding certain issues of seizure of property aimed at eliminating of corruption risks in the process of application of it" and "On amendments to the Criminal and Civil Procedure Codes of Ukraine concerning improvement of the institute of special confiscation aimed at eliminating of corruption risks in the application of it".
According to Minister of Justice Pavlo Petrenko, the above-mentioned bills introduce more effective mechanisms of special confiscation and asset forfeiture, which our law enforcement agencies can use in their activities.
He also explained, the offered improvements introduce real mechanisms to complete investigation of criminal cases, to save and return to the state budget hundreds of millions of hryvnyas stolen by corrupt officials. Besides, following the proposals of the EU, the laws suggest to extend special confiscation to all intentional crimes, instead of applying them to a narrow circle of corruption crimes. Simultaneously, it determines that an investigating authority must prove the fact that the property was obtained by crime. This is an effective mechanism of judicial protection of property rights. Along with this, two more passed bills include the law designed to
create the foundation to provide a clear distribution of cases among various
law enforcement bodies and the law On the National Agency of Ukraine for search,
investigation and management of assets obtained from corruption and other
crimes, which had been designed to meet the requirement of the 5th report of
the monitoring mission of the European Commission, which contained that
Ukraine must establish an independent agency for asset search and management. "Today's vote and the adoption of these bills as a basis is proof
that Ukraine is committed to really fight corruption," summed up the
Minister of Justice of Ukraine. |