The initiative of material encouraging for accusers of corruption is quite dangerous, - Andriy Trigub

The very idea of materially rewarding the accusers of top corrupt officials has the right to live. Moreover, it has already been put into practice in some countries. But in Ukrainian realities its effectiveness is very doubtful.

This opinion was expressed in an commentary to the Law and Business publication by the associate partner of Skliarenko, Sydorenko & Partners, Andriy Trigub, evaluating the initiative recently introduced at the Presidential Office to introduce material compensation at the legislative level within 10% of the amount of losses reimbursed to the state or the amount of undue gain (bribes).

The lawyer considers this initiative quite dangerous, citing two reasons.

"Firstly, in modern criminal justice known cases of blatant provocation of bribery involving trained applicants-plaintiffs. Such applicants are often dependent on law enforcement officers. And material encouragement of this kind of activity can increase the number of fabricated criminal cases” he explained. - And this, in turn, qualifies as a provocation of a crime, is not consistent with the concept of a fair trial, including in the context of the practice of the European Court of Human Rights, which, by law, is a source of law for Ukrainian judges. ”

Another aspect, according to A. Trigub, is the problem of proving a person’s guilt in corruption crimes. “Secondly, even if we proceed from the good intentions of law enforcement officers, we should not forget about the quality of today's work of the prosecution. We constantly hear from the media that this or that official was burned out on a bribe. But what does the investigation end with? How many high-profile detentions and announced criminal trials were not just a PR, but ended with a guilty verdict? These questions are not rhetorical, but purely practical, because (taking into account the presumption of innocence), the accuser will receive the promised 10% of the reward only if the investigation of the crime is completed, ”he explains.

In this regard, the lawyer believes that changes to the legislation that would unload investigative judges and overcome the acute personnel shortage in the courts of first instance can greatly benefit society in the fight against corruption.