Draft law No. 11340 on increasing the efficiency of entering plea agreements, which will enable redemption for corruption crimes, will be radically changed by the second reading.
The Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Ruslan Stefanchuk, told about this on the air of the Yedyny Novyny telethon, reports Ukrinform.
“I am deeply convinced that the draft law will change before the second reading. As far as I know, according to the results of the committee’s work, there is complete harmony regarding which version should be on the second reading, so the betrayal is canceled,” Stefanchuk said.
In his opinion, in general, this bill is important, as it will strengthen the institution of guilty pleas.
“The institution of admitting one’s guilt exists all over the world. The state spends crazy money in order to prove the guilt of a person, and here there is no need to spend money. The person comes and says: I admit my guilt, compensate for the damage caused, and at the same time surrender those who helped me, were complicit in this crime. Therefore, the effectiveness of this institute is beyond doubt. It exists in all European countries,” the speaker said.
However, he admitted that while developing this draft law, “at some stage, skill in writing certain norms was not enough.”
“I want to thank the committee, which immediately, the very next day, gathered, involved everyone, the Ministry of Justice, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, NAKC, all the beneficiaries, and they came up with very important things, that the law should definitely provide for the issue that this institute it is applied only under the condition of full compensation for the damage, and secondly, if the person cooperates with the investigation and makes it possible to discover one or another criminal network,” said Ruslan Stefanchuk.
In addition, in his opinion, the plea agreement cannot be applied to all corruption crimes. The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada also reminded that the adoption of this draft law is a requirement for assistance from the European Union to Ukraine.
On July 18, the Verkhovna Rada supported in the first reading the draft law on increasing the efficiency of entering into plea agreements with the investigation. The draft law proposes to apply a fine as an additional punishment in the event of a plea agreement for corruption offenses. After the first reading, many anti-corruption activists had reservations about this document.
