They plan to make changes to the terms of the agreement with the investigation, but remove the rules on the mandatory disclosure of accomplices and the prohibition of the application of such rules to the organizers of large corruption schemes.
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Law Enforcement Affairs, headed by “servant” Sergei Jonushas, last night considered and approved for adoption in the first reading bill No. 11340 “On amendments to the Criminal Code of Ukraine and the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine on increasing the efficiency of concluding recognition agreements” , allowing those suspected and accused of top corruption for particularly serious crimes to compensate for damages, pay a large fine and avoid liability.
As the head of the Anti-Corruption Center Vitaly Shabunin noted, the document was considered behind the scenes, without discussion and without inviting anti-corruption authorities, and today it will be included in the agenda in parliament.
At the same time, the conclusion of the Anti-Corruption Committee of the Verkhovna Rada states that “the draft Law identified a separate provision containing a corruption factor.”
In particular, it creates the opportunity for a suspect or accused of committing a corruption criminal offense to receive a less severe punishment than provided for by the Criminal Code and the opportunity to enter into an agreement to admit guilt.
“Thus, conditions are created under which those suspected or accused of corruption-related criminal offenses, including the organizers of such crimes, can pay off severe punishment without exposing any accomplices or providing information about other crimes known to them,” the Anti-Corruption Committee pointed out. .
In turn, Shabunin, in his blog on the Ukrayinska Pravda website, indicates that the proposed payoff scheme will even concern the corruption of oligarchs, such as the suspects Bakhmatyuk, Kolomoisky and Kaufman, as well as people’s deputies, who have recently often become involved in corruption cases.
“It seems that such a rush with the bill is now connected precisely with the desire to save people’s deputies, whose cases of corruption have been increasing in number recently. The latest example is the suspicion from NABU/SAP of “servant” Zadorozhny this week,” Shabunin wrote.
Another reason he cited was the great interest in the adoption of the bill by the Office of the President. Which will also allow the OP to solve the problem of corrupt deputies in his own way.
“Firstly, the latter, being under investigation by NABU and SAPO, pose a danger, since they can expose corrupt actions of both representatives of the President’s Office and other persons in power. Secondly, it has long been no secret that over time it is becoming increasingly difficult for the Office to collect votes for the necessary laws. And in conditions when deputies from the pro-government faction systematically fall for corruption and the authorities cannot clear them away, a rebellion may even be brewing,” notes the head of the CPC.
He recalled that the current conditions for mitigation of punishment provide for an agreement with the investigation and the exposure of all participants in the crime; such agreements, obviously, do not suit the authorities.
At the same time, bill No. 11340 was registered at the request of the European Union on the need to improve agreements with investigators, which, according to the government’s obligations, must be adopted by the third quarter of 2024. However, the recommendation was not provided to mitigate the conditions, but because of the identification of practical problems in the implementation of this mechanism.
One of the problems is that ordinary perpetrators or accomplices in the framework of corruption schemes refused to cooperate with the investigation under the conditions that are now provided for agreements to plead guilty - the minimum punishment under the article of the Criminal Code and the prohibition of release from punishment with probation, if provided for by the article of punishment. reaches more than five years in prison.
Therefore, those accused of especially serious crimes, who are perpetrators or accomplices of corruption schemes, do not want to cooperate with the investigation, since such cooperation is often dangerous, and the prosecution cannot offer in exchange for important evidence a punishment other than five years’ imprisonment.
Therefore, it became necessary to change the possibility of punishment within the framework of the agreement with the investigation, subject to active cooperation through the exposure of the organizers or other accomplices, and full compensation for damage. For example, 3 years of imprisonment instead of five, or even a fine, but much larger than the standard fines in the Criminal Code.
Government Bill No. 11340 proposes to allow plea agreements for corruption offenses to reduce the penalty for corruption below a certain limit and expand the possibility of applying probationary exemptions even in particularly serious crimes. In both cases, disclosure is not a requirement.
Thus, they propose to replace the exposure of accomplices with full compensation for damages and pay a fine of up to 204 million UAH for a particularly serious crime. However, no measures are provided for serious criminal cases.
Alternative versions of the bill were also presented to parliament, in particular with the possibility of leaving disclosure as a mandatory condition of such agreements and not only for particularly serious crimes, but also serious ones; and the impossibility of concluding plea agreements with the organizers of corruption crimes. However, this alternative was rejected by the Law Enforcement Committee.
“In simple words, if bill No. 11340 is adopted in its current form, every participant in a top corruption crime, including the organizer, will be able to simply pay off by offering any amount in exchange for an agreement with the investigation. There will not necessarily be even full compensation for the damage or losses caused,” 0 the head of the Anti-Corruption Committee, Anastasia Radina, commented on the bill.
