Sixth Progress Report on the Implementation by Ukraine of the Action Plan on Visa Liberalisation {SWD(2015) 705 final}

2.3.1.3. Preventing and fighting corruption

The progress noted in the fifth report on anti-corruption policies, particularly the legislative and institutional progress, has continued. The adoption by the Parliament, on 8 October 2015 of legislative packages covering aspects of the report’s recommendations, is an important step forward. Civil society continued to play a key role in moving the anti-corruption agenda forward.

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) was created, its head was appointed on 16 April 2015 following an open and competitive selection process, and around 100 investigators have been recruited and trained. The establishment of the NABU is therefore well-on track. However, the NABU cannot be fully operational without a specialised anti-corruption prosecution office.

While the setting-up of this new specialised anti-corruption prosecution office has begun, it nevertheless remains to be ensured that its independence and integrity are recognised beyond doubt. Shortcomings in the selection process for the leadership of the anti-corruption prosecution office such as the lack of objective track-record criteria for the nomination of the members of the selection committee and the candidates, highlighted the need for the relevant legal and institutional framework to be further improved in order to fully ensure the office’s independence and integrity. To this end, the selection, appointment and dismissal procedures for the office’s leadership and staff must follow stricter independence and integrity safeguards. The specialised anti-corruption prosecution office should become operational as a matter of top priority; it is an indispensable component of an effective and independent institutional framework for combating high-level corruption. On 30 November, the General Prosecutor appointed the head of the specialised anti-corruption prosecution.

There has been progress in setting-up of the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAPC), especially since the new election of the Agency’s board which took place on 28 August 2015. The Government is expected to approve the five-member board in December 2015. The law on prevention of corruption, adopted in October 2014 entered into force on 26 April 2015. It provides for mechanisms to check asset declarations. These tasks will be performed by the NAPC. The NAPC will also administer the web-portal of asset declarations, which is currently being developed. A law on political parties financing was adopted in 8 October 2015. A draft law on the National Asset Recovery Office (ARO) and the Asset Management Office (AMO) passed first reading in Parliament on 8 October 2015. On 10 November, Parliament adopted in second reading a set of laws aimed at improving asset recovery procedures. Specifically, the draft laws: on ARO and AMO, on asset seizure and on special third-party confiscation. In the form proposed by the Government, the draft laws envisaged the establishment of an Asset Recovery Office which also comprised management functions concerning frozen and confiscated assets, as well as provisions on the freezing and confiscation process. A number of amendments to the text in Parliament have limited the Agency’s functions of active management of the seized assets, as well as the provisions on seizure and confiscation.

Progress made on legislative and institutional aspects can only bring significant end results if fully implemented.

The Ukrainian leadership committed to:

ensure that the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and specialised anti-corruption prosecution are fully operational in the first quarter 2016; ensure by the first quarter 2016 independence and integrity of the specialised anti-corruption prosecution office, including through amendments to the Law "On Prosecution" appropriate safeguards for the selection and dismissal of the office’s leadership; ensure that the National Agency for Prevention of Corruption is fully operational in the first quarter 2016 and verification of assets and potential conflicts of interests of public officials in areas and positions most vulnerable to corruption will be launched immediately after;improve the institutional capacity on recovery and management of assets and, in the first quarter of 2016, adopt legislation on procedures concerning seizure of assets and special confiscation with a view to make the Asset Recovery Office fully effective; ensure in the State Budget for 2016 and onwards the necessary financial resources for the well-functioning anti-corruption institutional framework, including the National Anti-Corruption Bureau.

Based on these commitments, the anti-corruption benchmark is deemed to have been achieved.

Quelle: <https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/rep/1/2015/EN/1-2015-905-EN-F1-1.PDF>