You're reading: Parliament plans to create national agency for detection, management of corrupt assets

The Ukrainian parliament plans to create a national agency of Ukraine for detecting and managing assets recovered from corruption and other crimes.

A total of 237 MPs supported at first reading draft law No. 3040 on the national agency for detecting and managing assets recovered from corruption and other crimes.

Justice Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Petrenko said that the law must be passed as a liability to the European Union on the issue of the liberalization of the visa regime between Ukraine and the EU.

Petrenko said that the adoption of the single law will allow criminally-obtained assets to be arrested and returned to Ukraine.

“This is an independent agency… it is not a law-enforcement agency,” the minister said.

According to an explanatory note to the draft law, the national agency of Ukraine for detecting and managing assets recovered from corruption and other crimes is a small professional agency with broad powers and high guarantees of independence. The operation of the agency will be under the control of specialists and the public.

The head of the agency is appointed from among the best candidates selected by a tender commission in a transparent manner. The head of the agency is selected among public figures (three persons are selected by the parliament), and professionals who represent key parties linked to the detection and seizure of assets: the Prosecutor General’s Office, National Anti-Corruption Bureau, Justice Ministry, the State Financial Monitoring Service and Finance Ministry.