The Verkhovna Rada supported in the second reading the presidential bill on oligarchs No. 5599 as a whole. The bill was supported by 279 parliamentarians.
The people’s deputies considered the bill on a shortened procedure, which caused outrage in the opposition. The parliamentarians of the opposition parties even blocked the Rada rostrum.
The overwhelming majority of votes for the bill was given by the presidential mono-political party “Servant of the People” – 229, “For the Future” – 18, “Trust” – 15, “Golos” – 11.
People’s deputies from “Eurosolidarity” – 23 people’s deputies and “OPZZh” – 20 spoke out against.
Before voting for the law as a whole, the people’s deputies supported “the main, decisive or stipulating amendments regarding other amendments on Nos. 38, 43, 167, 271, 344, 406, 473, 598, 653, 794, 887, 934”.
According to the adopted law, the NSDC will determine the oligarchs at the request of the Cabinet of Ministers, the SBU, the National Bank, a member of the NSDC or the Antimonopoly Committee. The President enacts the decision of the NSDC. It comes into force after its official publication.
An oligarch is a person with significant economic and political weight in public life. Oligarchs will be called people who meet at least 3 criteria prescribed in the law:
- participates in political life;
- has a significant influence on the media;
- is the ultimate beneficial owner of the enterprise, which holds a monopoly position in the market and for a year in a row and maintains or strengthens such a position;
- the confirmed value of a person’s assets (and business entities of which he is a beneficiary) exceeds UAH 2 billion 270 million.
The NSDC will also deal with the register of oligarchs. The register will indicate the data of the oligarch, his assets and a list of politicians in whose work he is involved.
If a person is included in the list of oligarchs, then a number of restrictions are applied to him.
In particular, it will be prohibited to make contributions to support political parties and participate in large privatizations.
Also, people from this Register will have to file an income tax return.
In addition, the law introduces the concept of “declaration of contacts”. They want to oblige them to submit all civil servants, if they contacted the oligarch or his representative. At the same time, it will be possible not to submit such a declaration if the meeting with the oligarch was on television, in a court session, at events initiated by state authorities.
The law also obliges oligarchs to report that they are included in the Register of Oligarchs before meeting with government officials.
There are also corresponding requirements for filing a “declaration of contacts”. If a person does not submit such a declaration, then she may be brought to political or disciplinary responsibility.
It is possible to exclude a person from the Register if he lacks at least two signs provided for entering this list.
The law comes into force on the day following the day of its publication and comes into force 6 months after the date of its entry into force.
The law expires in 10 years from the date of its entry into force.
