KIEV, Ukraine, December 20, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- The President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych submitted to the Parliament ("Verkhovna Rada") of Ukraine a new draft Law "On Principles of Prevention and Combating Corruption in Ukraine". The President repeatedly identified corruption as a vital issue that has been threatening national security and constitution order in Ukraine.

The provisions of the draft law are consistent with provisions of the UN Convention against Corruption and have received top reviews from the experts of Group of States against Corruption of the Council of Europe (GRECO), who supervise the fulfillment of Ukraine's obligations according to the EU - Ukraine Action Plan.

The draft law that has been developed by the National Anti-Corruption Committee, with the active support of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine will provide a mechanism to actively prevent corruption and its roots.

Last year Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted three anti-corruption laws. Some articles of these laws, however, have not been consistent with the current legislation and received a lot of criticism from experts as well as from the civil society. The current draft of the anti-corruption law was prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Constitution of Ukraine, the United Nations Convention against Corruption, Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention on Corruption, Council of Europe Civil Law Convention on Corruption, provisions of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses and Law of Ukraine "On civil service".

If adopted by the Parliament the new law would require no additional financial costs from the state budget but will significantly contribute to the improvement of Ukrainian legislation on combating corruption.

Ukraine scored 2.4 points out of 10 according to the Corruption Index 2010 from Transparency International to grab 134th position among 178 countries. The top three of the least corrupted countries according to this rating were Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore whereas Afghanistan, Burma and Somalia were ranked as most corrupt nations.