Yet another sticking point in fighting corruption

Deputies cannot decide what level of expenditure by officials needs to be declared. On Tuesday the Parliamentary Committee on Fighting Organized Crime and Corruption suggested to the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada that some specification be added to the Law “On the fundamental principles for countering corruption in Ukraine”, which has been adopted, but has not yet entered into effect.

They consider that the declaration minimum should be lowered from the 50 thousand UAH  barrier imposed by the new law to the level of an official’s average monthly salary. The Party of the Regions does not have a single position on this.

Having adopted the law, parliament moved away from its usual procedure for its entry into force. The decision was taken to instruct the committee when preparing the law for signing by the Speaker, Volodymyr Lytvyn, to add to the document, and the declaration form, a number of technical and legal corrections.

The Committee appears to have agreed, after considerable debate, to send the suggestions to the Verkhovna Rada Speaker, however it remains an open question whether parliament will accept a lowering of this rate. Kommersant-Ukraine reports that some Deputies were lobbying for the threshold to not be lowered, while some even wanted it to be raised.

Abridged from the report at Kommersant-Ukraine

see also:
• Transparency International: Ukraine Needs a Comprehensive Strategy to Combat Endemic Corruption
• Corruption in Ukraine: From Chaotic to Systemic
• Verkhovna Rada passes President’s anti-corruption law
• Public servants will begin declaring income and expenditure no earlier than 2012
• New body proposed for fighting corruption
• On (not) fighting corruption: The President and Ministers don’t have to declare income
• Transparency International calls for law on public procurement to be reworked
• EU freezes aid to Ukraine over public procurement
• Parliamentary Legal Department points out flaws in the new anti-corruption law
• New head of Anti-Corruption Committee sees no need for more laws
• Draft bill on Bureau on Anti-Corruption Investigations sent back for reworking
• Anti-corruption draft law needs refining