Rada eases punishment for fraudulent e-declarations, Zelensky to veto bill

Ukraine’s parliament approved in the final reading on
June 3 of bill #4651 to reinstate punishment for filing fraudulent electronic
declarations or failure to file the declaration by state officials. A
supermajority of 307 MPs voted in favor of the law, with a minimum 226 votes
needed. Recall, the bill should have reinstated imprisonment
for fraudulent or absent declarations after the Constitutional Court ruled in October to cancel such punishments
in the older legislation.

Just after the bill’s approval, anti-corruption
activists and officials stated that the approved version of the document is a
step back from Ukraine’s promises to its western partners. In particular,
Vitaliy Shabunin from the NGO Anticorruption Action Center stated that last
minute changes to the bill allowed the declarants to not report on the assets
of their family members. Another last-minute amendment was that the officials
won’t be punished by a prison sentence for failure to declare. Later on, the
National Anticorruption Bureau and the National Agency for Corruption
Prevention issued a joint statement pointing on these two issues and called on
President Zelensky to veto the bill.

Responding to such calls, Zelensky’s office issued a
press release on June 3 assuring activists that the president would veto the
bill. “I can’t put under threat one of the main achievements on the way to EU
integration – the visa-free regime,” the release cited Zelensky. He also
stated that the amended items contradict the presidential draft which was
supported by the Venice Commission. 

Alexander Paraschiy: Despite the
bill being approved by over 300 votes of MPs (and 300 votes are needed to
overcome a presidential veto) we expect that MPs will change the bill after the
president returns it with his comments. We understand that the approval of this
bill is important for the IMF’s first review on the on-going SBA program, so it
is vital that the corrected version of the bill is approved within one month.
Otherwise, the chances for the continuation of the program will fade
significantly.