The Bureau will be entrusted with investigation of corruption offences committed by top officials, namely: Ministers, Members of Parliament, state officials of 1st and 2nd rank, judges, staff of the Prosecutor-General's Office, top military officers as well as heads of large state enterprises.

"Establishment of this body is a landmark and starting point of real fight with corruption, – noted Oleksandr Danyliuk, Representative of the President at the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, – it is one of key Presidential anticorruption initiatives for the country".

The draft law on establishment of the Bureau was developed jointly by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine and experts of the "Reanimation Package of Reforms" anti-corruption group, endorsed by the Government, and fine-tuned by the Presidential Administration. Finally, the President submitted it for urgent consideration of the Verkhovna Rada.

"The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine endorsed the draft law of the Ministry of Justice and non-governmental experts on the National Anti-corruption Bureau that should be absolutely independent from all branches of government", Andriy Kukharuk, representative of the Ministry of Justice, noted at the presentation. "We intended to make the draft law cover even such issues as recruitment of staff, bearing in mind how important it is for the entire operation of the body and preventing the situation when recruitment process could be amended by a by-law. Thus, if one desired to amend the framework and core principles of operation of the Bureau, one would have to adopt another law", he added.

If the law is adopted by the current Parliamentary convocation, it would be possible to set up the Bureau by the end of 2014. Adoption of this draft Law by the end of October is one of key requirements of the IMF for providing the next tranche of financial aid to Ukraine.

Viktor Chumak, Head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Combatting Organized Crime and Corruption, asserted that the line Committee was able to review the draft law within the shortest possible time. "The draft law should be passed for voting the next plenary week as a matter of top priority. Therefore, it is necessary to register it in the Parliament and endorse by the Committee not later than early next week. Due to pre-term elections, we have little time and we should not waste it", he added.

All the participants shared an idea that the most urgent problem now was a delayed registration of draft law by Secretariat of the Verkhovna Rada. "We cannot afford losing third tranche of the IMF because of being late with registration", Daria Kaleniuk, Executive director of Centre Against Corruption, emphasized. "The draft law should be submitted to voting by 16 September. If it is not a case, the Parliament and its Head will be responsible for that", she emphasized.

 

 

 

 

Original article located here.