Three opposition factions – “European Solidarity”, “Voice” and “Fatherland” have developed a joint bill to combat Zelensky’s oligarchy (5599-1). This was announced by party representatives during a briefing in parliament.
According to the author of the bill, Mykola Kniazhytskyi, a member of the European Solidarity faction, the government’s bill on so-called de-oligarchization actually gives President Zelensky extraordinary powers to single-handedly denounce all those who interfere with him as “oligarchs.” At the same time, anti-corruption bodies have been set up in Ukraine, which are designed to limit oligarchic influence.
“The essence of Zelensky’s bill is as simple as possible – the National Security and Defense Council determines who is an oligarch and who is not and not allowing for the authority to investigate, which now belongs to one political force. Who is the oligarch from the point of view of the authors of this bill, who prepared it for Volodymyr Zelensky? These are not the owners of TV and radio channels, not the rich people whose names we all know. These are the owners of blogs, owners of websites and those who they want to label oligarchs through the National Security and Defense Council, all decided by one political force, “Knyazhytskyi stressed.
“What are the consequences for the oligarchs, as spelled out in this bill? The consequence is one – they do not have the right to participate in privatization. The game is now like this : you want to privatize something, you want not to be appointed an oligarch – go negotiate; you don’t want to – you don’t privatize, “Mykola Kniazhytskyi warns.
“We have submitted an alternative bill. And I am grateful to my colleagues from Fatherland and Voice who signed it. Our bill clearly requires the Antimonopoly Committee to monitor compliance with the law. Those who do not comply with it, at the suggestion of the Antimonopoly Committee, are subject to a special procedure conducted and controlled by the NAPC. We created anti-corruption bodies to give them the power to fight both corruption and the oligarchy.”
“We suggest that TV channels take an objective position, so that we know at whose expense they are financed and who is behind these TV channels. That they do not have the right, under the care of authoritative public organizations, to brainwash Ukrainian citizens “, – Knyazhytsky emphasizes.
“The Fatherland team is against oligarchs running the country. We joined the preparation of an alternative bill because we believe that an advisory body such as the National Security and Defense Council cannot determine or keep a register of who is an oligarch and who is not an oligarch. Because this way, those who belong to this category will avoid real responsibility, “said MP Mykhailo Tsymbalyuk.
“We are in favor of effective antitrust law, the effective work of law enforcement agencies and finally judicial reform, because it is the court that can determine these categories of citizens. We are in favor of the NAPC keeping a register, and we expect a civilized, professional discussion in the session hall, so that the bill is balanced and becomes a law that guards processes that are taking place today. In fact, today the oligarchs are both monopolists and those who influence state policy. Such a bill should take into account European and American past experience, where they have implemented effective legislation that guards the state and the people, ” Tsymbalyuk affirmed.
“The Voice faction supports the fight against the oligarchs, and in this regard we have signed a bill of our colleagues from European Solidarity and submitted a number of our initiatives for direct changes to the antitrust law, to the tax legislation. Because we believe that it is law enforcement agencies that must fight and have enough tools to fight the oligarchs. We believe that the bill submitted by the president does not recognize the oligarchs as those who are really the oligarchs in this country, ” said Roman Kostenko, a spokesman for Voice.
“We propose the creation of a law that will really rid Ukraine of both the oligarchy and corruption, and their influence on politics, political processes, illegal influence on the media, and on illegal enrichment. We propose punishing those people who violate Ukrainian law. We hope for the support of society and for support of in parliament,” Knyazhytskyi summed up.