The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, has approved at second reading and as a whole the presidential bill (No. 7440) on the High Anti-Corruption Court. According to an Interfax-Ukraine reporter, 315 MPs voted for such a decision at a plenary session of parliament on Thursday. In particular, the decision was supported by 123 MPs from the Bloc of Petro Poroshenko, 70 from the People’s Front, 22 from Samopomich, 14 from Batkivschyna, and two votes each from the Opposition Bloc and Oleh Liashko’s Radical Party. The Will of the People and Vidrodzhennia groups gave 18 and 21 votes in favor of the bill, respectively.
Some clauses of this bill were changed before second reading as a result of consultations with the IMF. The most controversial clause concerned the decisive role of the public council of international experts in the selection of judges. The law determines the procedure for holding a competition for the selection of anti-corruption judges.
