On July 18, 2024, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted in the first reading the draft Law submitted by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “On adoption as a basis of the draft Law of Ukraine on Amendments to the Criminal Code of Ukraine and the Criminal Procedural Code of Ukraine on Improving the Efficiency of Plea Agreements” (reg. no. 11340).
The specified project was developed by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine in order to implement clause 3.3.2.4.1 of Expected strategic result 3.3.2.4 of problem 3.3.2 of subsection 3.3 of section III of the Anti-corruption program for 2023-2025, approved by the resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated March 4, 2023 No. 220 “About approval of the State anti-corruption program for 2023-2025” and the Plan of Ukraine, approved by the order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of March 18, 2024 No. 44-r “On the approval of the Plan of Ukraine”, the purpose of which is to implement the initiative of the European Union “Ukraine Facility”, introduced by the Regulation ( EU) of the European Parliament and Council (EU) of February 29, 2024 No. 2024/792.
The relevant provisions of the draft law propose:
1) amend part 3 of Art. 53 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, which provide that only in relation to corruption offenses, offenses related to corruption, the court may issue a verdict approving a plea agreement and impose an additional penalty agreed upon by the parties in the form of a fine in the event that such penalty is not provided for in the sanction of the article (part of the article) of the Special Part of the Criminal Code.
In this case, the amount of the fine will be determined within the following limits:
a) from twelve thousand non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens to one hundred and twenty thousand non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens – in case of committing a criminal misdemeanor;
b) from one hundred and twenty one thousand non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens to one million two hundred thousand non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens – in case of committing a minor crime;
c) from one million two hundred and one thousand non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens to six million non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens – in case of committing a serious crime;
d) from six million one thousand non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens to twelve million non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens – in case of committing a particularly serious crime;
2) supplement the CC with a new article. 692, which stipulates that if the suspect or accused exposes another person to the commission of a corruption criminal offense, a criminal offense related to corruption, if the information about the commission of a criminal offense by such a person is confirmed by evidence and/or under the condition of full or partial compensation to the suspect or the accused of the damage caused or the damage caused, the court may make a decision to approve the plea agreement, if the parties have agreed on a punishment in the form of deprivation of liberty lower than the lowest limit established in the sanction of the article (part of the article) of the Special Part of the Criminal Code. At the same time, in the event of the imposition of such a measure of punishment, a person cannot be exempted from serving it with probation on the basis of Article 75 of the Criminal Code;
3) in the case of approval of a plea agreement, the court shall make a decision to release the person from serving a probationary sentence, if the parties to the agreement have agreed on a sentence of imprisonment for a term of no more than eight years or another milder sentence with probation. In this case, the probationary period will be from two to six years;
4) amendments to Article 77 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine added the penalty of confiscation of property to the list of additional penalties that may be applied;
5) to establish a term for the repayment of a criminal record for persons released from serving a sentence with probation, in the case of approval of an agreement on the recognition of their guilt in committing corruption offenses (new paragraph 1-1 of Article 89 of the Criminal Code), and to determine such a term from the moment the court verdict is announced and if the person does not commit a new criminal offense within six years from that time. If at the end of such six-year term, the person has not served additional punishment, he is recognized as not having a criminal record, only after serving this additional punishment;
6) amend Art. 469 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, which provide for the possibility of entering into a plea agreement in proceedings for particularly serious crimes under the jurisdiction of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, on the condition of full or partial (taking into account the nature and degree of participation of the person in the commission of the crime) compensation for the damage caused to the suspect or accused or damage caused (if such damage or loss has been caused);
7) in case of refusal of the court to approve the agreement, the conclusion of which was initiated at the stage of the pre-trial investigation, the court proceedings, with the consent of the parties to the criminal proceedings, are continued in the general order (Part 7 of Article 474 of the Criminal Procedure Code in the draft version).
The parties to criminal proceedings are offered the opportunity to make changes to the concluded agreement before the court is removed to the deliberation room, as well as to provide that re-applying with the agreement in one criminal proceeding is allowed once if the grounds on the basis of which the court refused to approve such an agreement are eliminated. In case of repeated refusal of the court to approve the agreement, the next application with the agreement in this criminal proceeding is not allowed.
