PLC 4ever
Related Articles
(Redesigns with comments from the president)
KYIV, Oct.27 (Reuters) – President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Tuesday vowed to keep Ukraine’s fight against corruption on track after two separate Constitutional Court rulings threatened to derail needed reforms under a $ 5 billion deal with the International Monetary Fund.
According to local media, the court ruled behind closed doors on Tuesday that the imposition of legal sanctions on officials for illicit enrichment was unconstitutional.
The full text of the verdict has yet to be released and the court spokeswoman declined to comment. The court said on its website that it issued a ruling in response to a petition from 47 lawmakers regarding the legality of certain anti-corruption laws, but did not say what decision was made.
Zelenskiy’s office said in a statement that regardless of the decision taken, he would use his powers to preserve or restore reform whereby officials must declare their assets and can be sued for illegal accumulation of wealth.
Zelenskiy’s government secured a new $ 5 billion loan deal with the IMF in June to tackle a sharp economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
But the IMF has blocked the disbursement of the money due to concerns about Ukraine’s performance in fighting corruption and adopting reforms. “Ukrainian officials and MPs will continue to declare their assets and income, and anti-corruption bodies will have the powers to inspect them and bring offenders to justice,” Zelenskiy’s office said.
In a separate statement, his office said the court did not have the power to remove the head of the National Anti-Corruption Office (NABU), after the court ruled in September that NABU’s work was unconstitutional. .
Parliament approved a bill last year that criminalizes the illegal enrichment of state officials, a move backed by the IMF and other foreign donors concerned about entrenched corruption in the former republic. Soviet.
Ukraine passed a law in 2015 banning illicit enrichment, but the Constitutional Court overturned the law in February 2019, prompting parliament to pass new legislation. (Edited by Mark Heinrich; Edited by Lisa Shumaker)
