Zelensky signs illegal enrichment law required by Western lenders

Ukrainian President Zelensky signed on Nov. 25 the illegal
enrichment legislation approved by parliament on Oct. 31, which introduces a
mechanism for the government to recover the illegally acquired assets of state
officials. In particular, a state official’s expenditures worth about USD 4,600
in excess of a state official’s declared income is punished by a prison
sentence of five to ten years. On top of that, the law qualifies as unjustified
any property acquired by an official if such property’s price exceeds the
official’s income by an equivalent of about USD 41,000. Such property can be
confiscated.

The World Bank lauded Zelensky in a statement that
day for signing the legislation, “which returns criminal liability for illegal
enrichment and introduces a mechanism of civil confiscation of the assets of
officials that can’t be verified by legal income.” The legislation also “fills
in critical gaps in the main principles of fighting corruption in Ukraine,
granting the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and Specialized Anti-Corruption
Prosecutor’s Office a powerful legal instrument in the fight against corruption
among officials,” the World Bank statement said.