Rada adopts law on protection of corruption exposers

A total of 252 people's deputies voted for a respective decision at a parliament meeting on Thursday, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

The document amends the law on prevention of corruption regarding the definition of the legal status of corruption exposers, their rights and guarantees of protection, providing conditions for disclosure of corruption-related information. At the same time, the document is supplemented by Article 53-7 "Remuneration to an Exposer," which stipulates that the right to remuneration is enjoyed by an exposer who has reported a corruption offense, the monetary amount of which or the damage caused to the state exceeds by over 5,000 times the living wage for able-bodied persons established by law at the time of the crime, in particular, through the media, journalists, public associations and trade unions, which are defined as external channels. The law also provides for internal channels (means of secure and anonymous communication of information to the head or an authorized unit of the body where the exposer works, undergoes a service or training or performs work at their request) and regular channels (anonymous communication of information, in particular, to the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption) of communication of corruption-related offenses.

At the same time, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), NAPC and other specially authorized entities in this field are obliged to create secure anonymous communication channels (online communication channels, anonymous hotlines, e-mail boxes, etc.) through which the exposer can send messages while remaining anonymous. The requirements for the protection of such communication channels are defined by the NAPC.

Anonymous reports of possible corruption offenses are subject to review within a maximum of 15 days from the date of receipt. If it is not possible to verify the information within the specified period, the head of the respective body should extend the period of consideration of the report up to 30 days.

A report of committing a corruption offense or corruption-related offense, other violations of the law through regular or internal channels of communication, or the communication of such information, is subject to preliminary review within no more than ten workdays.

To protect their rights and represent their interests, exposers may use all types of legal assistance provided by the law on free legal aid or personally involve a lawyer.

At the same time, the adopted law determines the amount of remuneration to corruption exposers: it should be 10% of the monetary amount of the object of a corruption crime or the amount of damage caused to the state by a crime and be established after the adoption of a guilty verdict by a court. The amount of remuneration may not exceed 3,000 minimum wages established at the time of the crime.

The law enters into force on January 1, 2020.

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