During the Oct.14 session, the last before parliamentary elections on Oct. 26, Ukraine’s parliament managed to adopt several long-awaited laws, including one to revamp the prosecutor’s office and another to create the anti-corruption bureau. The measures are part of the requirements under Ukraine's association agreement with the European Union.
The law on the prosecutor’s office introduces competitive procedures for the hiring of prosecutors and creation of two bodies independent of the prosecutor, as supported by 316 members of parliament, stripping the General Prosecutor’s Office of its supervision function.
“Adoption of this much-anticipated law will also allow to fulfill the responsibility, which Ukraine has voluntarily taken in 1995 when it joined the Council of Europe,” Andriy Kozhemiakin, member of parliament with Barkivshchyna faction and head of parliament’s committee on legislative support of law enforcement said during the session.
President Petro Poroshenko, who was present at parliament, also emphasized the importance of the law. “Four of my predecessors have never got down to depriving the prosecutor’s office of supervision function which was granted to it by (Josef) Stalin,” he said.
The law on creation of anti-corruption bureau, which was also required by International Monetary Fund, received 278 votes.
The law implies creation of independent bureau outside the system of exsiting law enforcement bodies which will be authorized with investigating crimes committed by high-level officials and preventing new crimes.
A special commission is to be created to hire members of the bureau and suggest candidates for the head of the bureau to the president. The president has the right to appoint and fire the chief of the bureau, which also has to be approved by parliament. Parliament has the right to deliver a no-confidence vote on head of bureau if it collects 150 signatures.
“We’ve made a decisive step in fighting corruption, a cancer that is eroding the country. I have no doubts that appointment of the bureau head will be made by absolutely transparent procedure and this person will meet the requirements of time,” Poroshenko said.
But representatives of the Anti-Corruption Action Center, the civil society organization that unites experts from legal, media and civic and political sectors fighting corruption, are not happy with the law.
They, in particular, criticized amendments adopted today suggested by Serhiy Pashynsky from the Batkivshchyna faction and Rostyslav Pavlenko from Vitali Klitschko’s UDAR faction. Those amendments allow people who have worked in law enforcement agencies during the last five years to work in the bureau and also give parliament the right to a no-confidence vote.
“From one side, the creation of a special body on fighting corruption among top-level official is an achievment for Ukraine, but in fact, the bureau fro the moment of its creation will be a disabled body because it won’t have political independence. And old staff will be able to work there,” Daryna Kalenyuk, executive director of Anti-Corruption Action Center was quoted by Ukrainska Pravda as saying.
Aside from the laws on anti-corrpution bureau and prosecutor’s office, the parliament passed the law on the basics of state anti-corruption policy for 2014-2017 with 284 votes. The law implements direct state finacing of political parties and independent audit of parties.
The parliament also adopted the law on disclosure of final beneficiaries of the companies, which implies creation of public registry of assets and the law which toughens responsibility for falsification of election process and introuces fine from Hr 1,700 to 5,100 ($130 – $400) or two years imprisonment or correctional work.
Kyiv Post satff writer Anastasia Forina can be reached at [email protected].
