Criteria for the classification of criminal offenses related to the violation of legislation in the field of prevention of corruption

Abstract

The article examines the problems of introducing in Ukrainian legislation a different list of types of legal liability in case of intentional violation of the requirements, prohibitions and restrictions established by the Law of Ukraine “On Prevention of Corruption”, depending on the presence or absence of signs of corruption and the definition of such an act as a corruption offense or an offense related to corruption. Based on the praxeological approach to the analysis of anti-corruption legislation of Ukraine, the author concludes that the types of legal liability for corruption acts at different times and in accordance with different legal acts establishing the grounds for such liability varied depending on the approaches in force at that time and taking into account the attitude of the European Union Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) to the mechanisms of legal counteraction to corruption in our country. The introduction of both the category of “corruption criminal offense” and the category of “corruption-related criminal offense” in Ukrainian legislation is due to the ambiguous attitude of GRECO experts to the existence of two parallel systems of liability for corruption offenses in Ukrainian legislation (criminal and administrative) and the inability, in their opinion, to clearly distinguish between these two systems of liability for corruption. It is stated that cases of corruption should be treated exclusively as criminal offenses, and the existing system of anti-corruption legislation of Ukraine cannot be considered as a proper application of the requirements of the Criminal Convention. The author concludes that it is necessary to introduce a system established in criminal law for classification of corruption criminal offenses and criminal offenses related to corruption which is based on the characteristics of the object of the relevant socially dangerous offense, and which determines the place of a particular criminal offense in the Special Part of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.