About exposers of corruption and criminal law

Abstract

Amendments to the Criminal Code of Ukraine and other laws on corruption exposers, especially their right to remuneration for reporting corruption, have been considered. The problem of existence of other violations of the Law of Ukraine "On Corruption Prevention" for which no criminal, administrative, disciplinary and / or civil liability has been established and for which the exposer can report has been identified. The author has emphasized that if it is not proved that the exposer made a knowingly false report, then the person suspected of something does not even have the opportunity to defend his/her honor and dignity in court. He has assumed that for the first time at the level of law the form of guilt of the exposer is indicated, which does not exist - unintentional communication of inaccurate information by the exposer. It has been proved that the legislator's disregard for the principles of criminal law and the rules of legislative technique lead to a constant scholastic update of anti-corruption legislation. Failure to take into account the grounds and principles of criminalization of dangerous acts makes amendmets to the Criminal Code of Ukraine "stillborn", no matter how many exposers report them in case of their internal strong belief in the presence of signs of corruption or corruption-related offenses. It has been alleged that the exposer may not expect a remuneration for reporting false information in any case. Illegal enrichment cannot and will never be a corruption crime, it is the result of committing truly corrupt crimes, and therefore the exposer may not expect a reward again. To eliminate these contradictions, the author has proposed in Note 2 to Art. 45 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine to determine the list of crimes related to corruption, and to make the person of the exposer responsible at least in part of the apology for the disclosure of information that has not been confirmed by the court. To implement such proposals, not only forensic scholars should be invited to the discussion, but also experts in the field of administrative responsibility, labor and civil law and procedure.