President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed Lawof Ukraine "On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Ensuring the Effectiveness of the Institutional Mechanism for Corruption Prevention" № 140-IX approved by the Verkhovna Rada on October 2, 2019.
The law amends several legislative acts of Ukraine, which should help to reduce the level of corruption and increase public confidence in anti-corruption bodies by improving the institutional mechanism for preventing corruption.
In particular, the document changes the governance structure of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention to a more effective one as well as enhances the capacity and guarantees of the independence of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention.
It also creates a proper legislative basis for the functioning of the authorized units for the prevention and detection of corruption in the authorities, the correction of certain deficiencies of regulation contained in the Law of Ukraine "On Corruption Prevention", in particular regarding the requirements of financial control and other legislative acts.
Thus, the form of governance of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention is changed from collegial to sole. The Head of the National Agency will be appointed to the post of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in accordance with the submission of the Selection Board following the results of open competitive selection.
The Cabinet of Ministers is instructed to hold a competition for the post of the Head of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention within two months from the day this law enters into force.
In this case, the powers of the members, the head of the apparatus, the deputy head of the apparatus of the National Agency are being terminated ahead from the date of entry into force of the law.
The order of formation of the Selection Board for the post of the Head of the National Agency is changed, as well as the participation of representatives of international organizations in its work. The Selection Board may not include persons authorized to perform the functions of the State or local self-government, which has to increase public confidence in the results of competitive selection.
The law also defines the powers of the Head of the National Agency.
In addition, the document provides the proper access of the National Agency to the registers and databases whose administrators are state bodies, in particular to the information of the United State Register of Legal Entities, Individual Entrepreneurs and Public Organizations, the Unified State Register of Rights to Real Estate, and access to information contained in the Securities Depository system.
The National Agency has the right to receive information from open databases and registers of foreign countries, in particular after payment for receiving relevant information, if such payment is required for access to information.
According to the law, the National Agency has the right to draw up protocols on relevant offenses, if they have been committed by officials holding responsible and especially responsible positions.
The document also strengthens the accountability mechanisms of the National Agency.