The European Union has expressed concern about the Constitutional Court ruling on unconstitutionality of Criminal Code article on illicit enrichment.
“Here, however, I must say that we have certain concerns as regards yesterday’s Constitutional Court ruling concerning the illicit enrichment and the burden of proof concerning this illicit enrichment. Of course, we will need to asses this ruling in more detail, but it must be said that the principle legal presumption is the principle that the person who possesses certain assets, certain wealth, has to be able to prove the origin of those assets,” the Kyiv-based European Pravda ezine said, citing the words of European Commission Vice-President for the Euro and Social Dialogue Valdis Dombrovskis during his lecture, titled “Five years after Maidan”, delivered in Kyiv.
In his words, this is an international principle, and the EU must look at the motives of the Constitutional Court and what influence the decision will have on the effectiveness on the battle against corruption.
As earlier reported, The Constitutional Court of Ukraine on Feb. 27 ruled Article 368-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine on illegal enrichment is unconstitutional since its provisions do not comply with the principles of the rule of law and the presumption of innocence.
The ruling is mandatory, final, and cannot be appealed.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko responded, saying on Feb. 27 he would submit a bill penalizing officials for unlawful enrichment to the parliament after the Constitutional Court published its ruling. The president promised that the bill would be written very precisely.
Changes in Article 368-2 appeared in 2015. Corresponding draft law No. 1660 was adopted by parliament in full during February 2015. It was one of the bills in a package of anti-corruption initiatives, passage of which was a condition for liberalizing visa-free travel for Ukrainians in the EU, as well as for continued cooperation with Ukraine by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In January 2018, a group of parliament deputies attempted to decriminalize an article on illegal enrichment, registering bill No. 7499. The measure was dropped following a public criticism.
