Ukraine’s parliament restores anti-corruption legislation

KYIV, Ukraine – Ukrainian lawmakers defied a ruling from the nation’s highest court and voted Friday to reauthorize criminal penalties for officials who provide false information about their incomes.

Ukraine’s constitutional Court annulled key parts of anti-corruption legislation that Ukraine approved after persistent Western demands. The October ruling triggered a standoff with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who warned that it could cost the country financial support and sought the high court’s dissolution.

As part of its ruling, the constitutional Court declared a requirement for officials to submit electronic income declarations to be unconstitutional. The court also struck down a provision that made it a punishable criminal offence for officials to provide false income information.

A bill passed Friday in Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, partially restored the overturned elements. The bill requires officials to declare incomes topping 9 million hryvnias (about $318,000) and reimposes criminal punishment for providing wrong information.

Anti-corruption activists had criticized the income threshold as unnecessary, but parliament speaker Dmyro Razumkov defended it as a reasonable compromise. He said the president is expected to sign the bill into law next week.