Ukraine’s parliament gave preliminary approval on Oct. 7 to a law creating a powerful state anti-corruption agency, a much-anticipated move required by the International Monetary Fund and sought by Western leaders.
It remains to be seen whether the agency will have the will and power to uproot Ukraine’s deeply embedded corruption, which is harming its economy, democratic development and relations with the West.
The bill, filed by President Petro Poroshenko, passed in the first reading after it received 278 votes in favor.
The bureau will have the power to conduct investigations of crimes allegedly committed by public officials, including judges and prosecutors. The head of the bureau as well as its staff are to be chosen by a special commission, according to the bill.
“The existing mechanism of fighting corruption has proven its inefficiency,” Ruslan Kniazevych, Poroshenko’s representative in parliament said at the session. “There is a need to create a new body that will take that responsibility.”
The anti-corruption
bureau will conduct a pre-trial investigation into cases of alleged corruption involving powerful officials. After investigation, it will be able to file the cases into courts
via its specially trained prosecutors, appointed by the Prosecution General Office and responsible to the head of the anti-corruption bureau. However, the cases will be adjudicated in the same courts with judges widely believed to be corrupt.
Effective anti-corruption legislation ranks high on the IMF’s list of priorities for continued lending to Ukraine. The fund required the creation of an anti-corruption bureau by the end of October.
The parliament also approved in the first reading several other anti-corruption bills.
One of them, passed with 247 votes, requires disclosure of the true beneficiaries of companies, suggesting the creation of a public register of assets.
“This bill stipulates disclosure of all information about real owners of commercial entities registered in Ukraine, because nowadays a commercial entity which is owned by former top-level officials is registered to offshore companies or figureheads,” Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said in parliament.
This law also requires public disclosure of owners of real estate, information that has been thoroughly hidden by those in power in Ukraine.
“We will see what kind of houses, apartments and real estate people have in their possession,” Yatseniuk said about the new bill.
One more anti-corruption bill that passed with 263 votes requires the creation of a special anti-corruption five-member commission. The commission’s responsibilities will include control of the lifestyle of officials and check of their declarations, among others.
The parliament hopes to pass the anti-corruption bills in the final version during the Oct.14 session, the last before the Oct. 26 parliament election.
Parliament failed to pass anti-corruption laws in September.
This time, however, parliament speaker Oleksandr Turchynov warned the lawmakers that the list of the names of those who didn’t vote for anti-corruption bills will be published in the parliament’s official newspaper “in order for Ukraine to know who encourages corruption and who is real ready to fight against it.”
Anti-corruption legislation was drafted in cooperation with international anti-corruption organizations, including Transparency International, which has ranked Ukraine as one of the world’s most corrupt nations — 144th out of 177th in 2013.
“Ukraine needs a solid legal framework to fight the corruption that has run rampant both in politics and in the state structures that provide basic services to ordinary people,” said Anne Koch, regional director for Europe and Central Asia at Transparency International. “When these new laws are adopted and implemented it will greatly reduce the opportunities for corruption of those with political power.”
Kyiv Post staff writers Oksana Grytsenko and Anastasia Forina can be found at [email protected] and [email protected]
