NABU and SAPO Heads Attend the Meeting with the Parliamentary Committee on Law Enforcement.

They discussed the amendments to the Criminal Code of Ukraine and the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine on plea bargaining introduced by the Government’s draft law No. 11340. The NABU and the SAPO remain focused on the importance of further elaboration.

In this regard, we emphasize the necessity to ensure the following conditions when entering into a plea agreement:

– The organizer of the crime may be granted probation or a sentence lower than the minimum penalty for such a crime only if two preconditions are met in parallel: the organizer discloses another organizer and compensates damages.
– ⁠ Other persons (who are not organizers) may be released from serving a punishment with probation for a particularly serious crime or sentenced to a punishment lower than the minimum limit provided for such a crime only if two preconditions are met in parallel: the disclosure of other persons and compensation for damages.

Without these modifications, corruption risks will remain in the Draft Law.

Following the meeting, the stakeholders agreed to update the Draft Law in order to ensure adequate, effective and efficient sentencing for corruption-related crimes. Once finalized, the NABU and the SAPO will publish their evaluation of the text of the Draft Law for the second reading.

SAPO