It’s been two months since Zelenskyy took office as the President of Ukraine. Time to sum up wat anti-corruption steps have been taken and what promises have been made.
☑ Finally the NACP is getting rebooted. The Presidential Office has already announced a reboot of the agency, changes to its composition and tools used by the staff. According to Rusan Riaboshapka, the draft law is ready http://bit.ly/napcup
☑ Illicit enrichment 2.0. Zelenskyy submitted the draft law to the Parliament for the second time. But it happened after speaker Parubii adjourned the last plenary meeting of the Parliament of VIII convocation. Earlier, MPs ignored this draft law even though it took into account remarks made by the Constitutional Court, stipulated civil forfeiture and, if illicit assets exceeded UAH 11.5 million, imprisonment of up to 10 years.
☑ The President’s draft law specifies the jurisdiction of the High Anti-Corruption Court. Under the current law, all corruption-related cases concerning public officials from the lowest to the highest level go to the HACC, which means about 3,500 cases. It will actually stall the convictions of NABU cases. EU Delegation to Ukraine, the NABU and the SAPO have actually supported draft law No. 10426.
To consider these draft laws, Zelenskyy asked Parubii to summon an off-schedule Parliament meeting, but Parubii said that it was legally impossible. We hope that the new parliament will get to these issues ASAP.
☑ What does Zelenskyy’s team expect from the new parliament? Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Ruslan Riaboshapka said that they should update and adopt laws on corruption prevention, electronic declarations, political corruption; review the Criminal Procedural Code, move ahead with the judicial reform and increase whistleblower protection. Read more here: http://bit.ly/2y29eTN
☑ Representatives of the updated National Council on Anti-Corruption Policy held a meeting. They include heads of key anti-corruption and law enforcement agencies, business associations and civil society organizations. Read the key points here:http://bit.ly/2Obh2gO
☑ Before the new parliament starts working, there should be draft laws that would bring tenders in the security and defense sector out of secrecy and reform the Security Service of Ukraine. According to Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksandr Danyliuk, secret tenders lead to corruption or inefficiency. As is the case in many countries across the world, there should be the principle of minimum reasonable secrecy.
☑ Mass cleanse from Zelenskyy. The President suggested that people who held office between 2014 and 2019 should not be allowed to hold any other positions in the government any more. There are people like that on his own team, though. G7 ambassadors were very critical of the idea.
☑ Zelenskyy’s motion on dismissal of Prosecutor General Lutsenko, on the other hand, was not granted. Why? The Parliament Committee on Law Enforcement says that the motion contains reasons such as absence of a degree in Law and experience in this sector as reasons, while the law stipulates that the reasons can only be a letter of resignation, a motion of QDCP or the High Council of Prosecutors or an alimony debt.
☑ “Government in a smartphone.” President’s advisor Mykhailo Fedorov suggested to introduce a system of digital identification of citizens in Ukraine. This would enable automatic verification of data, an electronic census and modernization of electronic signatures.
