The Ukrainian chapter of the global anti-corruption network Transparency International considers further stalling of the draft law on the anti-corruption court dangerous. Delays with passage of the law endangers Ukraine’s further collaboration with the IMF and creates risks for the stability of the national financial system.

Draft law 7440 “On High Anti-Corruption Court,” submitted by the President of Ukraine, was passed in the first reading on March 1, 2018. During the next two weeks, reserved for amendments, MPs submitted about 2000 suggested changes to the document’s provisions. Despite the fact that it has been two months since the amendments submission deadline, the Verkhovna Rada Committee for Legal Policy and Justice is yet to start their review. In response to that, Head of the Verkhovna Rada made a statement at the coordination session on May 14, where he emphasized that it was essential that the committee should start working on this as soon as May 16.

Surface analysis shows that about a third of the amendments repeat one another. Therefore, Transparency International Ukraine believes that the Parliament has enough time to review them and approve the law in its entirety as soon as next plenary week.

Further stalling will endanger receipt of the next tranche of loan funds from the International Monetary Fund by Ukraine. As a reminder, IMF named passage of the law on the anti-corruption court a prerequisite for further collaboration with Ukraine multiple times.

Notably, the Committee’s inaction contradicts public statements made by both the President of Ukraine and the Prime Minister. They have urged the Parliament to pass the law in the near future and emphasized the connection between the effectiveness of this voting and the prospective IMF tranche. According to the calculations of experts, violation of Ukraine’s commitments, which will probably block receipt of macroeconomic help from the EU and loans from the World Bank, may entail crises in Ukraine’s financial sector as soon as in August of 2018.