Ukraine allows all accused of corruption to payback during war & escape criminal liability

Amid the ongoing conflict with Russia, the Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian Parliament, has presented a bill to allow people charged with corruption to be exempted from criminal liability if the damage is fully compensated during the war. As per the Ukrainian Pravda, the bill, presented on April 29, was submitted for review on Tuesday. The bill proposed that if the damage inflicted is fully paid, a person who has committed acts that contain signs of crimes under Articles 191, 209, 364, and 367 of the Criminal Code will be released from criminal accountability.

As stated in the explanatory note, the enactment of this measure is critical in order to develop private sources of cash mobilisation without jeopardising criminal justice obligations during the military aggression by the Russian Federation. Meanwhile, Vitaliy Shabunin, the head of the Anti-Corruption Action Center’s executive board, said that passage of the bill would allow top corruption suspects to avoid punishment by "paying a portion of the loot, and then peacefully continue to steal further." "Instead of confiscating all the assets of defendants and forcing them to serve a real prison sentence, deputies want to allow them to continue stealing by paying just a small part of what was stolen," Shabunin remarked, as per Pravda. 

Ukrainian Parliament passes law easing procedure for seizing Russians' assets

Last month, the Ukrainian Parliament also passed a law that simplifies the procedure for seizing Russians' assets who are subject to sanctions imposed by various countries. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Servent of the People party stated that the procedure for confiscating the assets of sanctioned Russians has been eased by deputies as the parliament passed bill No. 7194. The bill creates a new mechanism for sanctions against Russian Federation nationals during the term of martial law.

Russia-Ukraine war

It is pertinent to mention here that the war between Russia and Ukraine continues to escalate and entered its day 69th on Tuesday. Ukraine on Tuesday blamed the invaders for not permitting the evacuation of over 2,000 Mariupol residents who are still trapped near Berdyansk village. Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko claimed this while speaking to the UA marathon, Ukrinform reported. Earlier on May 1, more than 100 people were evacuated from Mariupol as part of a special operation.

Image: AP