Kiev: Ukrainian lawmakers on Thursday approved key legislation to create an anti-corruption court while also voting to dismiss the country’s finance minister, a respected reformer backed by the West.
A total of 254 lawmakers in the 450-seat parliament supported a motion submitted by Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman to sack Oleksandr Danylyuk.
The 42-year-old anti-corruption campaigner ruffled many feathers as he sought to clean up the former Soviet country’s fiscal and customs services.
Supported by global donors including the International Monetary Fund, his dismissal is expected to raise concern among Ukraine’s lenders and foreign governments.
In another crucial development, earlier on Thursday the parliament approved in the second and final reading a draft law to create an anti-corruption court — a key IMF condition for it to distribute more aid to Ukraine.
President Petro Poroshenko hailed the move as a “victory for Ukraine” after 315 lawmakers supported the legislation, with just 25 voting against.
“I believe this is a historic day,” Poroshenko said in parliament.
Ukrainian lawmaker Sergiy Leshchenko expressed hope on Twitter that the creation of the anti-corruption court would
“restore the confidence of international financial institutions and support the hryvnya,” the country’s currency.
— AFP
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