Most of the 16,335 Amendments to “Anti-Kolomoisky” Bill Filed by 7 MPs

07 April 2020 16:22

The majority of the 16,335 amendments submitted to the banking bill, which is set to regulate the issues of bankrupt and nationalized banks, were submitted by only 7 MPs.

That's according to Golos MP and deputy head of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Yaroslav Zheleznyak.

The following deputies submitted the most amendments:

Anton Polyakov (former Servant of the People MP, now non-factional, elected by majority constituency in the Chernihiv region) - 6,033 amendments;
Viktor Bondar (For Future group) – 1,911 amendments:
Dmytro Chornyi (Servant of the People) – 1,781 amendments;
Olga Vasylevska-Smaglyuk (Servant of the People) – 1,689 amendments;
Oleh Dunda (Servant of the People) – 1,656 amendments;
Serhiy Demchenko (Servant of the People) – 1,463 amendments;
Oleksandr Dubinsky (Servant of the People) – 1,199 amendments.

Other MPs submitted less than 100 amendments to the bill, which the parliament is yet to consider in the second reading.

Earlier in a comment to NV, both the expelled SOTP MP Polyakov, and former 1+1 journalist Vasylevska-Smaglyuk confirmed that they had submitted "many" amendments. The latter claimed that the purpose of her amendments was to align the bill with an alternative draft that she had previously submitted.

The so-called “anti-Kolomoisky” bill was approved by the Rada in the first reading on March 30. The bill regulates the powers of the National Bank to remove banks from the market and declare them bankrupt. The law also explicitly prohibits the return of nationalized banks to their former owners, largely seen as a move to prevent oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky from reassuming control of the nationalized Privatbank following the discovery of a $5.5 billion hole in the bank's finances.

The bill's approval on the first reading came after March 25, when some Servant of the People MPs called for the bill to be adopted as soon as possible in order to secure assistance from the International Monetary Fund and avoid a default. On the same day, three alternative bills were registered on the parliament's website.

Their authors were: an associate of oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky, MP Ihor Palytsia, "Servant of the People" MP Oleksandr Dubinsky, who is also associated with the oligarch, as well as another Servant of the People MP – Olga Vasylevska-Smaglyuk, who used to work on Kolomoisky’s 1+1 TV channel.

The adoption of the banking law and changes to the state budget for 2020 are two key requirements that the International Monetary Fund has set for Ukraine to sign a $5-8 billion loan program. Another prerequisite was the adoption of the law on the land market, which the Rada approved in its second reading on March 31.

The former owner of PrivatBank, oligarch Kolomoisky later also commented on the 16,335 amendments, in particular by the former employees of his 1+1 TV channel. In a comment to NV he said “as far as I know they have a soft spot for Ukraine [as opposed to the oligarch – ed.]. I didn’t ask anyone for any favors.”

There were also attempts to delay consideration of the land market law on the part of some MPs who proposed numerous amendments (4,018 in total). Due to the large number of amendments, it took the legislature almost two months to pass the law.