ukraine shelves corruption bill angering west
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today
Arab Today, arab today
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today

Ukraine shelves corruption bill angering West

Arab Today, arab today

Arab Today, arab today Ukraine shelves corruption bill angering West

A file photo of Ukraine's Parliament
Kiev - Arab today

Ukrainian lawmakers bowed Wednesday to International Monetary Fund pressure and shelved a highly-controversial bill that critics feared would have defanged the former Soviet republic's vital fight against corruption.

 

The decision to rework legislation that Kiev's Western allies said was meant to protect top politicians and powerful tycoons was made as an IMF team met with Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman in Kiev.

"Due to appeals from our colleagues fighting corruption -- including international ones -- I propose that we postpone work on this bill," Interfax-Ukraine quoted parliament's law enforcement committee chief Andriy Kozhemyakin as saying.

Kozhemyakin's group now intends to form a task force that may in the end simply kill the proposed legislation.

The National Anticorruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) has been highlighted by the IMF as a shining example of Kiev's commitment to pursuing fundamental changes demanded by pro-EU protesters who ousted a Russian-backed regime in 2014.

But NABU has faced stiff resistance since its launch in December 2015 from embedded institutions such as the general prosecutor's office and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).

Analysts view both as controlled by vested interests and incapable of leading independent probes into the financial misdeeds in the highest echelons of power.

The criticised bill would have allowed either prosecutors or the SBU to take over a case from the NABU and then effectively shut it down.

The proposal drew a stern rebuke from the Group of Seven leading industrialised nations.

Italian ambassador Davide La Cecilia tweeted Monday that the G7 was "concerned about the substance" of the proposed legislation and the "risk to the fight against corruption".

The IMF's Ukrainian mission chief Ron van Rooden wrote an unusually strongly-worded letter Monday to Groysman requesting that he ensure NABU's effective and uncompromised work.

"If such legislation were adopted, it would go directly against the commitment undertaken by the authorities as part the IMF-supported program to maintain the exclusive authority of NABU in investigating corruption by high-level officials," the IMF letter said.

Van Rooden stopped short of threatening to cut off the IMF's $17.5 billion (15.7 billion euro) Ukrainian loan package.

But he noted that the "proposed legislation is inconsistent with the program".

The IMF team is meeting Groysman to check on his willingness to both stamp out corruption that brought down a government last year and pursue belt-tightening policy guidelines set in Ukraine's rescue package.

The first among these involves an overhaul of its budget-draining pension system.

Van Rooden said last month that Ukraine's safety net for retirees was unsustainable because it supported nearly a third of the population.

Groysman lacks the political capital to push an overwhelmingly unpopular increase in the retirement age through parliament.

But Van Rooden has suggested reducing the number of pensioners by limiting early retirements.

He added that the system could be better financed by targeting companies and enterprises that avoid paying the pension tax.

Groysman unveiled his first pension reform plan Wednesday that he was due to discuss with the visiting IMF team.

The prime minister provided few immediate details about his proposal.

Source: Ahram online   

 

arabstoday
arabstoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

ukraine shelves corruption bill angering west ukraine shelves corruption bill angering west

 



Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

ukraine shelves corruption bill angering west ukraine shelves corruption bill angering west

 



GMT 13:49 2017 Tuesday ,08 August

Suspicion of the theft of the leading art museum

GMT 13:08 2017 Tuesday ,07 February

2 killed, 15 injured in accidents over past 24 hours

GMT 13:11 2015 Monday ,02 November

OSCE: Turkey vote hindered by violence

GMT 04:55 2017 Wednesday ,11 October

Ronaldo, Portugal lock down World Cup berth

GMT 18:29 2017 Sunday ,29 October

Egypt battles landmines 75 years after El Alamein

GMT 02:43 2016 Monday ,19 December

Giant oil tanker pays EGP 81 m to transit Suez Canal

GMT 15:35 2018 Wednesday ,12 December

Qatari embassy celebrates national day

GMT 13:52 2018 Wednesday ,10 October

Kremlin does not prepare amendments to Constitution

GMT 02:57 2017 Wednesday ,13 December

Emmanuel Macron sworn in as French president

GMT 21:25 2017 Monday ,11 December

Premier’s Advisor receives Komi Republic Head

GMT 07:53 2017 Friday ,17 February

Trump's White House: Five takeaways from Thursday

GMT 01:45 2017 Thursday ,10 August

Jordan, Turkey discuss regional development

GMT 12:02 2017 Friday ,10 November

HRH Premier thanked by ambassador

GMT 04:51 2017 Thursday ,01 June

two security men injured in bomb blast in Qatif

GMT 22:34 2016 Saturday ,12 November

Palestine reiterates support to French peace initiative

GMT 03:52 2017 Monday ,04 September

(June22nd-July23rd

GMT 02:10 2017 Saturday ,07 October

October24th-November22nd
Arab Today, arab today
 
 Arab Today Facebook,arab today facebook  Arab Today Twitter,arab today twitter Arab Today Rss,arab today rss  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
arabstoday, Arabstoday, Arabstoday