FILE PHOTO: A Ukrainian state flag, which is installed on the roof of the parliament building, flies in Kiev, Ukraine September 25, 2019. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
June 3, 2021
KYIV (Reuters) – Ukrainian lawmakers approved a law on Thursday to impose jail sentences on officials who make false asset declarations.
The legislation was a requirement for the government to secure more loans from the International Monetary Fund under a $5 billion programme. The IMF did not immediately comment on the approval.
The legislation stipulates that officials who do not submit their asset declarations or fail to declare assets worth more than 4.2 million hryvnias ($150,000) face two years in jail.
Last October the Constitutional Court struck down some anti-corruption laws as excessive, including legislation that allows for the jailing of corrupt officials for hiding their wealth.
That ruling has hobbled Ukraine’s prospects of securing more IMF loans and prompted President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to suspend the head of the court.
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Editing by Alison Williams/Mark Heinrich)
