Source: https://voxukraine.org/en/damaged-trust-politicized-misinterpretations-of-ukraine-s-newly-amended-anti-corruption-law/
Timestamp: 2019-02-19 12:35:09
Document Index: 678263608

Matched Legal Cases: ['Art.3', 'Art.1', 'Art.3', 'Art.3', 'Art. 45', 'Art. 3', 'Art. 3', 'Art. 3', 'Art. 3', 'Art. 45']

4030 , May 4, 2017
Recent amendments to Ukraine’s Anti-corruption Law sparked a fierce public conflict between its critics and supporters. Both sides relied on politicized interpretations of the changes, ignoring the letter of law. The debate has been dishonest, and has misled the public, various stakeholders, and even foreign governments supportive of Ukraine. This has undermined Ukraine’s international image, and is counterproductive to the country’s reform interests.
The unsupported criticism has severely damaged Ukraine’s reputation at a time when the country is most vulnerable. The battle moved beyond Ukraine’s borders to involve international organizations, foreign government officials, and institutions. This affected financial programs of support from Western donors, and resulted in strong words of condemnation from several of Ukraine’s friends and allies. The English media space saw a predominantly unbalanced and severe criticism of the law, alleging that it “exceeds” anything even ousted President Yanukovych ever enacted, and that it is in fact, a “Putin law” befitting undemocratic Russia.
It is indisputable that the newly amended anti-corruption law should have been drafted more responsibly to avoid confusion and panic. In theory, the legal text may be construed as overly broad in scope by those with malicious intent. The adoption of this amendment was untimely, and damaging to essential trust in Ukraine’s post-Maidan government. The government should not have rushed to impose highly onerous e-declarations on civil activists without involving all stakeholders in drafting the law, and should have done so only after having first earned society’s trust. Worse still, the government and other proponents of the law promoted the changes by discrediting civil society activists which the reformers perceived as a public smear campaign.
This issue with interpretation is amply manifest in arguments proposing that “sandwich eaters” and “water suppliers” are covered as subjects under the new law. A well-known anti-corruption NGO argued that “research once” or writing “two articles” qualifies as “systematic” anti-corruption activity . Despite its obvious absurdity (only natural persons are covered by the e-declaration requirement) a number of commentators speculate about the amended law forcing NGO’s, media outlets, and businesses to file e-declarations. Such interpretations are simply not sound, and no stretch of the imagination allows for such conclusions. The best reliable indicator of legislative intention is the meaning of the legislative text. There is no need to come up with imaginary problems based on irrational fears.
The claim that the amended law covers “any civil society activists”, implying that the principle of legal certainty is violated, demonstrates that critics ignore specific relevant provisions, as well as the context of the Law on Prevention of Corruption. Such claims ignore the criteria set by Art.3.1 (5), and the general purpose of the law. By analyzing the definition of “corruption” as defined in Art.1 of the Law on Prevention of Corruption, we can easily arrive at the the intended scope of the law. The law strives to curb abuse of office (office powers), or opportunities related to it, for illegitimate private gain, or a gain by a (related) third party, by persons enlisted in Art.3.1 (which includes civil society activists, as defined by Art.3.1 (5)). In other words, civil society activists must be entrusted with powers (within the decision-making process) in order to fall under the law. The telling title of Art. 45 of the Law on Prevention of Corruption – “Filing of declarations by persons authorized to exercise functions of the state or the local self government” – which makes references to natural persons described in Art. 3.1 (5), serves as another good reminder of the context and purpose of expanding the scope of the law to civil society activists.
The reasonable interpretation of the most controversial Art. 3.1 (5) (which cannot be dismissed until it faces scrutiny by the court) is that it provides a list of criteria which must be met by natural persons in order to fall under the law. It is not sufficient to meet just one criteria, but all of the listed criteria. This interpretation is based on the language of the legal text, as well as the context of the law.
By interpreting Art. 3.1 (5) as a list of criteria applicable to natural persons, we achieve a result which limits the scope of the law to the clearly defined classes of subjects, and is consistent with the purpose of the Law on Prevention of Corruption. If the paragraphs of Art. 3.1 (5) are interpreted as a list of separate categories, the law’s application becomes overbroad which can hardly be construed as reasonable within the declared purpose of the law. This would raise the issue of its constitutional legality before national courts, and perhaps even the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
The law needs fine tuning and clarification because of the debatable outcomes of some provisions, for example the controversial Art. 45.3 (3). Unfortunately, this matter falls beyond the scope of this publication. Nevertheless, the letter of the law simply does not substantiate many positions argued by its critics. When fighting for truth, for accountability, for justice, transparency, and good government, the fight must not be dishonest. When fighting for truth, one must fight with truth.
All this said, concerns of civil society must be addressed before the government implements the law. A public war over interpretations of the law, whether on the streets in protest, or in the courts, will further force a wedge between the government and civil society. To foster trust, Ukraine’s parliament should make the necessary changes to the law to remove potential ambiguities and doubts about its application, so civil activists who fear an over-broad interpretation of the legislation by law enforcement agencies will feel less afraid. Only when united by a common goal of a more transparent Ukraine, governed by the rule of law, not by the the rule of men, can all stakeholders hope for true change that will make Ukraine’s institutions resilient to corruption.
Main photo: depositphotos.com/robodread