Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, has reinstated criminal liability for public officials who provide deliberately false information in their mandatory assets declarations.
During a Verkhovna Rada session on Dec. 4, 289 lawmakers voted in favor of the draft law criminalizing false declarations, Parliament Speaker Dmytro Razumkov said. It will now be signed by President Volodymyr Zelensky and will enter into force by the end of the year.
The new draft law comes amid an ongoing crisis surrounding the country’s anti-corruption legislation. In late October, the Constitutional Court revoked articles of the Criminal Code holding public officials criminally liable for failing to properly declare their assets and for illicit enrichment.
The ruling triggered a nationwide uproar. It also provoked a strong reaction from the country’s Western partners and threatened Ukraine’s visa-free regime with the European Union states, which was predicated, in part, on Kyiv’s progress combatting corruption.
The new draft law aims to fill the legislative gap created by the Constitutional Court ruling and restore Ukraine’s shattered anti-corruption infrastructure.
According to the new legislation, if an official deliberately conceals assets worth between Hr 1.3 million and 9 million ($46,000 and $318,000), they can be fined between Hr 42,500 and 51,000 ($1,500 to $1,800). Alternately, they can be sentenced to between 150 and 240 hours of community service.
Those who fail to declare assets worth over Hr 9 million will face a fine of between Hr 51,000 and Hr 85,000 ($1,800 to $3,000), between 150 and 240 hours of community service or up to 2 years of “restrictions of freedom” that do not include imprisonment.
Additionally, a person convict on these charges can be banned from holding public office for up to three years.
Although the law formally reinstates criminal liability for filing misleading asset declarations, its final version does not envisage any form of imprisonment for felonies of any degree.
