U.S. embassy thanks Ukraine for restoring anti-corruption legislation

The embassy wrote this on its Twitter account, Ukrinform reports.

"We commend government and civil society leaders who fought tirelessly to restore the provisions invalidated by the CCU [Constitutional Court of Ukraine]," the statement said.

The embassy recalled that one year ago today, the Constitutional Court struck down key provisions of Ukraine's corruption prevention legislation - it rendered the asset declaration system useless and set back Ukraine's corruption prevention measures to pre-Maidan days.

"But thanks to the concerted efforts of government, civil society, and the Ukrainian people, the attempts by vested interests and pro-Russia forces to roll back progress have been thwarted," the embassy said.

The embassy said the United States will continue to support Ukraine's efforts to complete the Specialized Anticorruption Prosecutor's Office selection process, implement judicial reform, and adopt legislation that will lead to reform of the CCU.

The CCU on October 27, 2020 declared unconstitutional Article 366-1 of the Criminal Code that envisaged penalties for false asset declarations. The Constitutional Court also declared unconstitutional the powers of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention to verify the asset declarations of officials, monitor the lifestyle of those submitting them, and decide on whether asset declarations were submitted on time.

On December 15, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a law introducing amendments to the Law of Ukraine "On the Prevention of Corruption Concerning the Restoration of the Institutional Mechanism for the Prevention of Corruption" (No. 4470).

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