THE ISSUES OF THE WHISTLEBLOWER’S STATUS IN THE CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS

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УДК 343.1

DOI 10.37566/2707-6849-2021-4(37)-11

ORCID: 0000-0002-3900-5170

Vira MYKHAILENKO,

judge of the High Anti-Corruption Court, Сandidate of Juridical Science

THE ISSUES OF THE WHISTLEBLOWER’S STATUS IN THE CRIMINAL

PROCEEDINGS

          The article is devoted to the problems of the whistleblower’s participation as a participant in criminal proceedings. The current situation of the criminal procedural legislation regulating the status of the whistleblower is analyzed, problematic issues of the normative regulation of his participation are identified. The status of a whistleblower provided for in the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine differs from the definition of the Law of Ukraine «On Prevention of Corruption». On the side, there are no restrictions on the sphere from which the whistleblower can become aware of the facts of corruption. On the other hand, the CCP does not take into account certain types of offenses to which the Law extends the action of the institution of the whistleblower.

In the current conditions of legal regulation, the whistleblower at the initial stage of criminal proceedings is a kind of applicant. Information about the whistleblower is not entered into the Register, but according to the logic of the law the status of the whistleblower must go through all the criminal proceedings until the verdict of the court or its appeal.

The whistleblower has general rights characteristic of the applicant, for example, to receive a document confirming the application’s acceptance and registration, receive an extract from the Register of Pre-trial Investigations. He has also special rights - the right to notify the authorized body about the start of the pre-trial investigation, the right to information about the progress of the pre-trial investigation, the right to remuneration. At the same time, it is not clear how the right to information about the state of the pre-trial investigation is consistent with the need to maintain the secrecy of the pre-trial investigation. The procedure does not provide for any obligations of the whistleblower. It is substantiated that the peculiarities of the procedural participation of the whistleblower in criminal proceedings are not properly regulated, in particular, the evidence is not provided by the whistleblower, and there are no criteria for determining the remuneration.

Key words: criminal proceedings, pre-trial investigation, whistleblower, applicant, confidential cooperation, witness.

References

Law of Ukraine № 1576-IX. On modification of the Code of Ukraine on administrative offenses, the Criminal code of Ukraine concerning improvement of responsibility for declaring unreliable information and failure of the subject of declaring of the declaration of the person authorized to carry out functions of the state or local government. URL: https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/1576-20#n11. [ukr.]

Concerning the legal status of the whistleblower in criminal proceedings: explanation of the National Agency on Corruption Prevtntion. № 10. October 26, 2020. URL: https://nazk.gov.ua/uk/documents/roz-yasnennya-vid-26-10-2020-10-shhodopravovogo-statusu-vykryvacha-u-kryminalnomu-provadzhenni/?hilite. [ukr.]

Sergeeva D. B. Covert cooperation in criminal proceedings. Bulletin of criminal proceedings. 2016. № 4. p. 47–54. [ukr.]

Voytyuk O. S. The problems of confidential cooperation in operational and investigative activities of law enforcement agencies. Actual problems of operative-search activity of law enforcement bodies in modern conditions: mater. Interdepartmental. Science.-practice. conf. (Kyiv, May 19, 2011). Кyiv: scien.-publ. Department of the Security Service of Ukraine, 2011. P. 118‒121. [ukr.]