The anti-corruption reform was launched in Ukraine back in 2014, after the adoption of the Law “On Prevention of Corruption” by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. What happened next and what does the future hold – these are the topics discussed during the Active Community Club meeting titled “The Anti-Corruption Reform in Ukraine”.

Speaker: Yevhen Vorobiov, the Bihus.Info legal project coordinator, a lawyer.

Yevhen believes that the 2014 Law “On Prevention of Corruption” is a revolutionary one, unlike all previous anti-corruption laws, because it covers many issues that were not regulated before. However, it is not perfect; so as of today, there are still amendments to this Law proposed by law-makers, lawyers and specialists.

From where does anti-corruption begin in Ukraine? It begins from anti-corruption bodies. Let us examine their structure in detail.

NAPC – the National Agency on Corruption Prevention. This is the basic body accumulating and transmitting all the information. It verifies declarations, resolves conflicts of interest, renders decisions on offences, conducts examinations, etc.

NABU – the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine. It carries out investigative activities, investigates criminal offenses related to corruption, and distributes criminal proceedings. It is composed of 220 members.

National Police. It has the right to draw up reports on corruption-related administrative offenses.

Prosecution authorities, SAP – the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office. It exercises supervision, confirms indictments, carries out representation, refers cases to a court.

According to the speaker, as it stands today, the coordination of these bodies is rather well regulated; it is defined by special regulations indicating what institution is responsible for what.

What is corruption?

What offences are corruption offences is defined in the Article 45 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. These are the following: clauses 191, 262, 308, 312, 313, 320, 357, 410, as well as clauses 210, 354, 364, 364 (1), 365 (2), 368 3), 369, 369 (2), 369 (3) of the Article of the Code.

There are also administrative offences related to corruption. They are specified in Chapter 13-A of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offences.

Who are whistleblowers?

These are individuals who, being confident that the information was reliable, reported the facts of a corruption offence. The report must provide information about a specific person and present concrete facts. It can be submitted to the NAPC openly or anonymously through any channels (by phone, in a letter, online). Within 45 days, the whistleblower must be informed of the outcome of consideration of the report, otherwise the whistleblower is entitled to take legal action against the NAPC.

The definition is provided in the Article 60 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine.

The rewards can be given only to the whistleblowers who have disclosed information about themselves, and the amount of the reward shall be determined by the court.

We thank Yevhen for the detailed explanation of how residents of communities, towns and villages can join the fight against corruption, and of other issues!

The participants, in their part, highly praised the competence of the speaker, as well as the organisation and the holding of the event.

In particular, Oleh Kostiuchenko noted that he “had acquired new knowledge in matters related to civil forfeiture and unlawful enrichment, as well as to offices combining and responsibility one should bear for that.”

Here is the link to the recording of the conversation with Yevhen Vorobiov: https://youtu.be/PcaBugELRPA

Reference information. The goal of the Active Community Clubs is to conduct a dialogue with the citizens about the political reforms that is a part of the Right of Choice Project supported by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) with funding from the United States Agency for International Development.Note. The mission of Active Community Initiative: to achieve prosperity through the democratic development of Ukrainian communities. The goal set for 2025: to activate at least 1% of the citizens and to involve them in decision-making process and promotion of reforms in Ukraine on a systemic basis for prosperity of Ukrainian communities. This initiative was established as a part of the activities of the Institute Republica. We work to increase the conscious activity of citizens.