An extraordinary urgent meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers was held with the participation of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, at which an order was adopted that will allow unblocking the activities of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP).
An urgent meeting of the government was held in the Office of the Head of State to implement the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal stressed the need to discuss the response to new threats and challenges to national security.
"We are talking about the threat to anticorruption reform and ensuring the full operation of anticorruption bodies," he said.
The Prime Minister reminded that Volodymyr Zelenskyy had returned to the legislation the norm on criminal liability for illicit enrichment, which was abolished by the Constitutional Court on February 26, 2019.
"This confirmed that the President's team acts transparently and is fully committed to eradicate corruption in Ukraine," Denys Shmyhal said.
The Prime Minister stressed that the decision of the Constitutional Court adopted on October 27 jeopardized electronic declaration.
"The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine pursuant to the initiative of the President of Ukraine approves the decision, which will be a step towards the resumption of full-fledged work of the register of declarations. Tomorrow every Ukrainian will be able to see the declarations of officials and politicians," Denys Shmyhal noted.
The order "Some Issues of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention" which was considered and approved by government officials will unblock the activities of NACP.
According to the document, in order to ensure proper implementation of the Law on Prevention of Corruption, the National Agency on Corruption Prevention must provide open round-the-clock access on its official website to the public part of the Unified State Register of Declarations of Persons Authorized to Perform State or Local Government Functions.
The NACP must also ensure special inspections in accordance with the requirements of the Law of Ukraine on Prevention of Corruption.
State bodies, local self-government bodies must ensure access of the National Agency to information and telecommunication and reference systems, registers, data banks, in particular those containing information with restricted access, which they hold. They must also provide information, including with restricted access, upon written request from the National Agency on Corruption Prevention.
The President thanked the government for holding the meeting promptly and adopting a decision.
"I would like to note your quick reaction. I want to thank the Cabinet of Ministers for the fact that you reacted immediately and we were able to convene immediately. We have the right decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, which met today in an expanded format: including our anticorruption representatives, everyone had the floor and spoke about the situation. The first step is the step that the Cabinet of Ministers has just taken. I am grateful to everyone. I think this is an important signal to our society that the Cabinet of Ministers works unanimously for the state, not everyone for himself," Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed.