The Parliament on Oct. 16 passed at second reading a law that would protect and reward corruption whistleblowers.
The fight against corruption is the most-wanted reform for Ukrainians, according to a July survey by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation and the Razumkov Center. Ukraine’s international lenders, chief among them the IMF, also made reducing corruption the main priority for the country.
A majority of 252 lawmakers voted for the legislation at second reading, primarily lawmakers from Servant of the People and Voice. A majority of Opposition Platform deputies voted against, while other parties’ majorities abstained or did not vote.
The legislation defines the legal status of whistleblowers and provides for a guarantee of their legal protection. According to the bill, a whistleblower is someone who reports corrupt activity and other violations of the law to the authorities, after being convinced that the information is reliable.
The bill also sets out the monetary rewards that whistleblowers stand to gain. The criminal code would be modified to ensure that whistleblowers that expose large-scale corruption would be paid 10 percent of the total value of the corrupt scheme, but not more than 3,000 times the minimum wage at the moment the crime was committed.
The National Anticorruption Bureau of Ukraine and the National Agency on Corruption Prevention would be required to create communication channels for anonymous whistleblowers, including online channels, telephone hotlines or electronic mailboxes. The agencies must be able to guarantee the anonymity of the whistleblower.
According to state news service Ukrinform, the law is expected to be funded from financial sanctions, fines and court penalties on those convicted of corruption.
If signed, the law would come into force on Jan. 1, 2020.
