World Bank welcomes signing of law on illicit enrichment in Ukraine

The World Bank has welcomed the signing by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky of law that returns criminal liability for illegal enrichment.
"Today, President of Ukraine signed the Law re-criminalizing illicit enrichment and creating a civil remedy requiring the forfeiture of public officials’ assets that cannot be justified by their legitimate income. The World Bank welcomes the law which fills a critical gap in Ukraine’s anticorruption foundation by giving NABU and SAPO a strong legal instrument for tackling corruption by high-ranking public officials," World Bank Ukraine says in a post on Facebook dated November 25.

The World Bank also notes that civil forfeiture will help deter corruption by limiting the material benefits that public officials try to gain by stealing from Ukraine’s citizens.

As Ukrinform reported, on October 31, the Verkhovna Rada adopted the law "On amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine on the confiscation of illegal assets of persons authorized to perform state or local government functions and the punishment for acquiring such assets," which returned the criminal liability for illegal enrichment, taking into account the findings of the Constitutional Court.

On November 25, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky signed the law that provides for criminal liability for illegal enrichment.