Judges of the Constitutional Court abolished on Feb. 26 criminal liability for illegal enrichment, deciding that it violates the presumption of innocence, several Ukrainian media reported based on their sources.
The decision was reportedly made during a closed hearing. Questioned by the Kyiv Post, the court’s head Stanislav Shevchuk neither denied nor confirmed that the court abolished illegal enrichment, saying only that the decision will be published on Feb. 27.
Passed a day after a media investigation revealed alleged embezzlement of state funds by the son of one of President Petro Poroshenko’s top allies, the court decision outraged many in the nation, which is struggling to defeat corruption and prepare for a presidential election on March 31.
The article of the Criminal Code that the court found unconstitutional envisages that state or local officials who cannot explain the source of their assets may face up to 10 years of prison.
The parliament passed the law in 2015 as one of the conditions for Ukraine to receive a visa-free regime with the European Union and to continue its cooperation with the International Monetary Fund.
But in 2017, a group of 59 lawmakers led by Pavlo Pinzenyk from the pro-government People’s Front (Narodny Front), an 80-member party faction, filed a complaint with the Constitutional Court about this norm and eventually won.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau has opened more than 50 cases on illegal enrichment, which include investigations against Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelian, Deputy Security Service of Ukraine Chief Pavlo Demchyna, and Oleh Lyashko, a presidential candidate and leader of the Radical Party, which has 21 seats in parliament.
Anti-corruption activists have called this norm one of Ukraine’s main achievements and a key tool to tackle rampant corruption. Now they claim its abolishment will undermine the country’s cooperation with the West.
“We should now forget about IMF and World Bank money and, therefore, about economic improvement and the well-being of Ukrainians,” Vitaliy Shabunin, head of the Anti-Corruption Center wrote on Facebook.
Reformist lawmaker Sergii Leshchenko blamed this decision on President Petro Poroshenko, who is now seeking re-election and currently takes second place in the presidential polls.
“Petro Oleksiyovych (Poroshenko) has decided in the end to protect himself and his corrupt allies,” Leshchenko wrote on Facebook. “The elections is happening in a month, he could lose, and nobody wants to go to prison.”
