Page 20 - bne IntelliNews Country Report: Ukraine Dec17

secretary Svetlana Olyfira said, according to the Kyiv-based edition Ukrayinska Pravda.
Ukraine’s parliament may vote in December to approve the bill to reintegrate Donbas in the second reading, said on Nov. 14 Ivan Vinnyk, an MP of the Poroshenko Bloc. His parliamentary committee is still amending the bill to include “measures to ensure the security and territorial integrity (of Ukraine), while preserving democratic procedures provided by the Constitution.” These measures – which include evacuations and resettlements – could violate the constitutional rights of citizens residing on those territories where they are applied. Therefore, the legislation needs to address who has the authority to carry out such measures, to what extent they can be applied and in what time periods, Vinnyk said. The legislation still needs to address how to combat Russia’s hybrid war without a declaration of war or state of emergency, he said. More than 650 amendments were submitted to the bill on reintegrating Donbas after it was approved by parliament in the first reading in early October.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), the country's main anti-graft body, is investigating the possible illegal enrichment and declaration of false information by Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan , NABU said in a statement published on November 7. According to the statement, the pre-trial investigation in criminal proceedings was registered in May. "The investigation is underway," NABU said in the statement, underlining that the inclusion of information in the unified register of pre-trial investigations "cannot serve as basis for accusations against a person for committing an offense".
Ukraine's suspended tax chief Roman Nasirov’s case takes a step closer to trial. The Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine (SAPO) sent an indictment against Nasirov to court, according to National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU). He may stand trial now on corruption charges for stealing $70mn of state funds. Nasirov’s case is seen by some as a litmus test for Ukraine’s commitment to stamping out corruption .
Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, has adopted in the first reading a new bill on the privatisation of state-owned enterprises, which should re-start the stalled privatisation drive in the war-torn country. On November 9, the motion was supported by 258 lawmakers with the necessary minimum being 226 votes. In 2017, the Ukrainian authorities have so far had a good year, obtaining UAH3.244bn ($123mn) from the privatisation of state-owned assets. Kyiv restarted its privatisation drive in August, when the State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPF) sold blocking stakes in several power companies to SCM Group controlled by Ukraine's richest oligarch Rinat Akhmetov. At the same time, the government in Kyiv intended earlier to meet its planned UAH17.1bn of privatisation revenues by the end of 2017. Last year, Kyiv obtained only UAH188.92mn ($7mn) from the privatisation of state-owned assets, or 1.1% of the UAH17.1bn ($627.5mn) plan set in the 2016 budget.
20 UKRAINE Country Report December 2017 www.intellinews.com