Verkhovna Rada adopts draft law on plea bargaining in corruption cases
29 October 2024 15:42
263 MPs have voted in favor of the Law on Amendments to the Criminal Code of Ukraine and the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine to improve the regulation of plea agreements in criminal proceedings on corruption and corruption-related criminal offenses. MPs Yaroslav Zheleznyak and Oleksiy Honcharenko wrote about this in Telegram, according to
Komersant ukrainskyi
.
The initiators of this law are listed on the parliament’s website as the head of the Servant of the People faction in the Verkhovna Rada, David Arakhamia, and the head of the relevant Verkhovna Rada Committee on Law Enforcement, Serhiy Ionushas.
According to the initiators of the draft law, its adoption will help reduce the level of corruption in Ukraine, accelerate compensation for losses or damage caused by corruption-related criminal offenses and criminal offenses related to corruption, and more efficiently use the limited procedural resources of pre-trial investigation bodies, prosecutors and courts.
Explaining the essence of the adopted law, MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak highlights several provisions:
- the law introduces a new article that allows for a shorter prison term than required by the code in case of cooperation with the investigation through exposing accomplices and compensation for damage – for example, 5 years instead of 8;
- the court will be able to impose a fairly large fine as an additional punishment: for minor crimes – from 20 thousand to 120 thousand tax-free minimum incomes, for serious crimes – from 120 thousand to 6 million tax-free minimum incomes. NMDL, for particularly serious crimes: from 270 thousand to 12 million NMDL. NMDG;
- in such cases, the court will also be able to confiscate the property of the defendant, if this type of punishment is agreed upon;
- this tool will not be applied as a general rule to organizers of schemes, unless such an organizer exposes another organizer;
- in the case of lesser crimes and small schemes without accomplices, a reduced sentence will be available to a defendant who fully compensates for the damage, pays a fine and may receive additional confiscation.
The report notes that this draft law was supported by both the SAPO and the NABU. It also complies with Ukraine’s international obligations.
Yaroslav Zheleznyak explained the prompt adoption of the law by the fact that the document must be signed by October 31 to receive money under the Ukraine Facility Plan, which is 4 billion euros.
