Among the MPs who voted in favor of the law that would allow corrupt officials who have made a deal with the investigation to avoid confiscation of property is Anastasia Radina, a former employee of the Anti-Corruption Action Center and a longtime ally of Vitaliy Shabunin, who supported the bill. The relevant amendments to the Criminal Code were recently adopted by the Verkhovna Rada, writes “Law and Business”, reports UNN.
In particular, Article 77 of the Criminal Code has been removed from the provision that provided for the confiscation of property as an additional punishment for a criminal or corruption offense.
“It is noteworthy that V. Shabunin was outraged by this vote this morning... Obviously, these amendments to the Criminal Code were adopted to protect corrupt officials from the confiscation of criminal assets. Therefore, the editorial board agrees with V. Shabunin that this was done to please corrupt officials, and it was his people who contributed to this, in his words, “throwing the Europeans,” the newspaper notes.
Radina, who supported this bill, was the head of advocacy programs at the Anti-Corruption Action Center from 2016 to 2019. Later, she was one of the leaders of the campaign to establish the High Anti-Corruption Court in Ukraine and is also an expert on tax legislation.
As a reminder, the SBI is investigating a number of criminal cases against Shabunin, including mobilization evasion, forgery of NAPC documents, illegal use of humanitarian aid and misappropriation of a Nissan Pathfinder jeep that was transferred to the Armed Forces.