What the Constitutional Court ruling meant for Ukraine's anti-corruption system
A look back at the situation on 3 November 2020, days after a court decision that, as reported, dismantled key anti-corruption tools.
What was the state of Ukraine's anti-corruption framework on 3 November 2020? Five days earlier, on 28 October 2020, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine had issued a ruling that, as reported at the time, meant the abolition of electronic asset declaration.
The same decision was reported to remove the powers of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention to carry out full checks and to monitor officials' lifestyles. It also meant the cancellation of liability for illicit enrichment and of the confiscation of assets acquired through corruption, as well as of liability for false declarations.
Taken together, these were the main instruments by which officials' wealth could be disclosed and verified. The ruling therefore reached the core of the system, not a peripheral provision.
Ukraine's neighbourhood was also in flux. On 29 October 2020, amid continuing protests against Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus abruptly closed its borders with Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine, while leaving the border with Russia open. Lukashenko said the move was meant to limit the spread of COVID-19.
For Kyiv, the two developments were separate, but both left open questions as November began: one about how the country would verify the integrity of its officials, the other about its border with Belarus.
