“We were deceived”: the people’s deputies argue about how they confused with the amendments to the law on oligarchs

The law on oligarchs, adopted on September 23 by the Verkhovna Rada, will soon be submitted for signature to President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky. None of its articles will be re-voted.

About this “RBC-Ukraine” was informed by the presidential representative in the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, the chairman of the working group on the bill on oligarchs Fyodor Venislavsky.

Controversial issue

Earlier in Telegram, the chairman of the Golos faction, Yaroslav Zheleznyak, said that the Verkhovna Rada would have to re-vote bill No. 5599 on oligarchs, which was adopted in the second reading. This must be done because unnecessary amendments were adopted – now there are different editions in the law on recognizing a person as an oligarch.

Razumkov’s opinion

Verkhovna Rada Speaker Dmitry Razumkov believes that the procedure used in parliament when voting for this bill cannot be called a normal approach. Nevertheless, the decision of the Verkhovna Rada has been made, and the norm of the law is already coming into effect, which stipulates that the NAPK should deal with this.

“If we are talking about what happened in the Rada, this is a separate discussion. The so-called procedure was applied for the first time within the walls of the Verkhovna Rada. I cannot call it a normal approach. This is not an abbreviated procedure. There is no such procedure. This is the free activity of colleagues who launched this process. I have a deep conviction that this was done in order to mislead the people’s deputies, ” – said Razumkov on the air of the talk show “Freedom of Speech by Savik Shuster” on the TV channel “Ukraine”.

Stefanchuk’s opinion

The First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk noted during the TV broadcast that there is an opportunity to correct mistakes if they were made during the voting.

” We will definitely wait for the conclusions to be made by the apparatus of the Verkhovna Rada. If there really is some kind of error, there are normal solutions. The first option is to eliminate these errors on the initiative of the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. If the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada does not believe that we have six months so that we can make any changes and additions to this law, as it comes into force in six months. But today we have a law on de-oligarchization … I want to congratulate everyone. This is the first step and far from the last.“, – said Ruslan Stefanchuk on the air of the talk show” Freedom of speech by Savik Shuster “on the TV channel” Ukraine “.

What’s in the law

• On September 23, the Verkhovna Rada adopted Law No. 5599 on oligarchs in the second reading. The criteria for who will fall under this status have been determined, a register of oligarchs will appear and it will be necessary to declare contacts with them. The corresponding document was supported by 279 people’s deputies.
• The NSDC is entrusted with the function of determining who can be considered an oligarch. Potential oligarchs will be summoned to a meeting of the NSDC, and members of the NSDC will be obliged to argue why they classify a person as an oligarch.
• The register of oligarchs will also be on the NSDC. It will also contain information about legal entities, the beneficiary of which is the oligarch, and about the people and parties, for the political activities of which the oligarch gave money.
• Oligarchs will not be allowed to make contributions (directly or through other people) in support of political parties. Fund any political campaign, rallies or demonstrations with political demands and slogans.
• Oligarchs cannot be a buyer (beneficiary of a buyer) in the process of privatizing large privatization objects.
• If an official or deputy contacted the oligarch or his representative, he will have to submit a declaration of such a contact the very next day (this even applies to the President of Ukraine).