Kyiv moves to lift ban on farmland sale:
By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
KYIV -- Ukraine's parliament has passed a bill in its first reading to remove a ban on the sale of farmland, a move supported by the country's foreign backers and hailed by Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk as a step away from "feudalism."
A total of 240 lawmakers supported the bill in the 450-seat Verkhovna Rada on November 13 to lift the nearly two-decade ban in October 2020, as dozens of protesters opposed to the reform gathered outside the parliament building.
The proposed legislation, which is strongly promoted by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, must be voted on a second time to come into force.
"This day will go down in the history of Ukraine," Honcharuk said in a Facebook post after the vote. "Finally, we can move away from feudalism to real market relations as a fully fledged, developed country," the prime minister added.
Those who want to scrap the moratorium on the sale of agricultural land, which was introduced in 2001, say the move would unlock enormous investment potential.
The farmland vote came a day before a new International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission starts work in Kyiv. As one of Ukraine's biggest lenders, the IMF has advocated for the creation of a viable land market.
Kyiv is looking to seal a three-year, $6 billion loan program, one that the Washington-based lender said will be tied to fiscal austerity and deep, structural changes.
A big obstacle for the IMF so far has been the legal effort by Ihor Kolomoyskiy, Zelenskiy's main media backer, to regain ownership of PrivatBank, the country's largest lender, which required an injection of $5.5 billion to keep it afloat before it was nationalized.
Critics of the farmland bill, however, raised concerns that it could allow local oligarchs and foreigners to force out poorer Ukrainians in purchasing plots of land.
The draft bill limits the area that could be accumulated by one person or entity and stipulates that foreigners will not be able to buy land until 2024, but Zelenskiy has said that matter should be put to a referendum.
Ukraine, one of the world's top grain exporters, has more than 40 million hectares of fertile farmland that cover nearly 70 percent of its territory.
Creating a farmland market by lifting the moratorium could add $15 billion a year to Ukraine's economic output and increase yearly gross domestic product by about 1.5 percentage points, according to the World Bank.
The European Union representative office in Ukraine said the bloc supports plans to open the land market in Ukraine, but it insisted that the reform must be "based on rule of law and principles of sustainability, fairness, inclusiveness, and transparency of land-related data."
"Priority to small farmers, safeguards must be put in place to avoid concentration of land ownership," it said. (w/Reuters and AFP)
Zelenskiy signs law on corruption whistle-blowers:
By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
KYIV -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has signed a corruption-whistle-blower law that parliament adopted last month.
It incentivizes reporting graft by offering whistle-blowers 10 percent of a bribe or the amount the state incurs in losses due to corrupt schemes.
The tipster qualifies for the 10 percent cut only if the bribe meets the threshold of 5,000 or more times the minimum wage -- 10 million hryvnyas or $410,000 at the current exchange rate.
Thus, the whistle-blower can at least expect $41,000 for reporting wrongdoing.
A potential tipster can report the crime either internally where they work or thorough the media, civil society, or unions, as well at the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NAZK).
Whatever information is passed on must confirm the possible act of a corruption crime and must be verified on a preliminary basis within 10 days.
Then a decision is made on whether to conduct an internal investigation, give the materials to law enforcement investigative body, or close the case if the facts aren't confirmed.
Findings of the preliminary review are given to the accuser within three days of its completion.
The duration of internal investigations is 30 days, and if necessary, 60 days.
The most whistle-blowers can expect to receive is $51,000. If there is more than one whistle-blower, then that sum gets proportionately divided based on the weight and significance of what each tipster divulges.
A court determines the exact award based on the extent to which the information is exclusive to the tipster and its significance in terms of facts that can be verified, and which lead to findings of corrupt behavior.
Rights to monetary awards aren't given to people who cooperate with an investigation into graft, those who took part in the corrupt scheme on which they report, or if they reported corruption although they have the authority to officially report it within their professional capacity.
NAZK's role is to review whistle-blower reports, cooperate with and protect them, as well prosecute those who violate their rights for reporting corruption.
Tipsters have the right to remain anonymous and if the situation warrants it, they and their close ones are afforded a witness-protection program.
In certain circumstances, they are absolved of legal liability, are offered psychological care, and reimbursed legal fees.
Whistle-blowers who disclose false information can also be held legally accountable, but only if that information is reported through public channels, not internally or through a law enforcement body.
Kyiv court frees man jailed for plotting murder of exiled Russian journalist Babchenko:
By RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service
KYIV -- A Ukrainian court has released from custody the man convicted of being recruited by Russia’s secret services to organize a plot in 2018 to kill self-exiled Russian reporter and Kremlin critic Arkady Babchenko.
The Kyiv regional prosecutor's office told RFE/RL that the Kyiv Appeals Court ruled on November 13 that Borys Herman must be released due to his poor health.
No other details were provided.
Herman was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison by a court in Kyiv on August 30, 2018, after he pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with authorities.
In May 2018, Ukrainian authorities had announced that Babchenko was shot dead outside his Kyiv apartment.
The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) then shocked reporters and the world, saying that Babchenko was still alive.
The SBU said it thwarted the planned killing by working together with Babchenko to fake his death.
Herman is alleged to have promised $40,000 to a would-be assassin for the killing of Babchenko.
The alleged would-be killer, a former Ukrainian monk and army veteran named Oleksiy Tsymbalyuk, said he went to the SBU after Herman approached him and worked with the agency to foil the plot.
Despite its apparent success, the SBU operation was strongly criticized by media watchdogs, journalists, and others who said it undermined the credibility of journalists and Ukrainian officials.
Babchenko announced earlier this month that he had left Ukraine for Israel because he feared for his safety after the election in April of Volodymyr Zelenskiy as president of Ukraine.
Relations between Moscow and Kyiv have been badly damaged by Russia's seizure of Crimea in 2014 and backing for separatist militants in a devastating war in eastern Ukraine.