NACP denies claims that it is impossible to confiscate illegally acquired funds from MSEK leaders
The National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAZK) issued a statement, refuting a message on the network, which claimed that the confiscation of illegally acquired property from officials of medical and social expert commissions (MSEK) is impossible. According to the representatives of NAKC, such information is manipulative and indicates an incomplete understanding of the legislation of Ukraine on the part of those who spread such statements.
NAKC emphasizes that the Telegram channels that disseminated these messages made a number of mistakes, mixing up separate concepts and incorrectly defining the powers of both NAKC itself and law enforcement agencies in general. According to the current legislation, the agency has the ability to initiate prosecution for violations of anti-corruption legislation, in particular for submitting inaccurate data in declarations. However, for confiscation of illegally acquired property or assets, NAZK is not authorized to issue court documents; these powers are vested in other state bodies acting through established legal procedures.
In order to ensure the possibility of criminal liability for illegal enrichment and civil confiscation of assets, changes to the Criminal and Civil Procedure Codes of Ukraine are necessary. To this end, the NAKC has already started preparing the draft amendments, implementing the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, adopted recently.
In accordance with the Law of Ukraine “On Prevention of Corruption”, the heads and members of the medical and social expert commissions are classified as persons equal to civil servants performing state functions. This means that they can be held responsible for illegal enrichment under the Criminal Code (Article 368-5) and articles of the Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine, which allow assets to be recognized as unjustified.
At the same time, for the application of confiscation of property in the case of serious or particularly serious crimes or crimes against national security, the National Security Agency emphasizes that the current legislation of Ukraine provides for the application of Articles 59 (“Confiscation of property”) and 96-1 (“Special confiscation”) of the Criminal Code. According to these norms, the property that is the property of the convicted person can be seized in favor of the state.
NASK emphasized the importance of updating legislative acts in order to maximally strengthen the responsibility of officials involved in corruption schemes and to eliminate any legal gaps that complicate the process of combating corruption.
