KYIV: Ukrainian lawmakers on Friday approved a draft law that would restore accountability for false asset declarations by officials, improving the government’s chances of securing more foreign aid for an economy battered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The vote sought to repair the damage from a decision taken by the Constitutional Court in October to strike down some anti-corruption laws.
But many lawmakers criticised Friday’s vote as not going far enough, as criminal liability for false asset declarations only begins at sums above 9 million hryvnias ($318,302) under the new measure.
Speaker Dmytro Razumkov called it a compromise and hoped President Volodymyr Zelenskiy would sign the legislation into law next week.
“It was a matter of principle for us to restore criminal responsibility and we did it,” he said. “Second, it was important for us to put pressure on those people who … do not want to declare.”
(Editing by Matthias Williams and Chizu Nomiyama)
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