Arakhamia responds to criticism of the draft law on “payoffs” for corruption with a fine

The head of the Servant of the People parliamentary faction, a member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence, David Arakhamia, commenting on the draft law on the possibility of “paying off” corruption punishment with a fine, said that the demand for a deal with the investigation of corruption offenses came from partners as part of the Ukraine Facility Plan commitments, UNN reports .

Arakhamia commented on the draft law No. 11340 on the possibility to “pay off” corruption punishment with a fine.

Arakhamia claims that the MPs did not raise the issue of plea bargaining with the investigation in corruption cases at all.

This came from our partners as part of the Ukraine Facility Plan commitments

According to him, the government version was voted on today because the government has been designated as the negotiator with the EU on this plan.

The first reading has now passed, and we have a list of written comments from the SAPO and the HACC, which are to use this mechanism. The agreement is a right of the prosecutor's office, not an obligation. I hope that today no one, especially among civil society activists, doubts the integrity and professionalism of the head of the SAPO, Oleksandr Klymenko

According to him, the final version of the draft law will still be subject to “offsets” from international experts.

If civil society considers this draft law a betrayal, it has the right and opportunity to present its arguments to representatives of embassies and international organizations. But I am sure that everything will be well finalized before the second reading, as it has been done many times in similar situations

Context

The Verkhovna Rada has passed in the first reading a bill that would allow “to pay off” corruption by paying a fine.

It is noted that the amount of compensation will be set at the same level:

• from UAH 204 thousand to UAH 2.04 million - in case of a criminal offense;
• from UAH 2.057 million to UAH 20.4 million - in case of committing a minor crime;
  
• from UAH 20.417 million to UAH 102 million - in case of a serious crime;
  
•  from UAH 102 million to UAH 204 million - in case of a particularly serious crime.
  

The SAPO reported that draft law No. 11340 contains the possibility of agreeing on a less severe punishment than the sanction of the article of the Criminal Code, including for a particularly serious corruption crime, without the obligation to incriminate another person in committing a crime.

We believe that such a provision of the draft law does not meet the purpose of plea bargaining, which should facilitate the exposure of organizers of crimes through cooperation with other accomplices. In our opinion, exposure of the organizers of a corruption criminal offense should be an essential condition for concluding such agreements