The President initiated criminal liability for selling bank accounts
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has submitted draft law No. 16013 to the Verkhovna Rada, introducing criminal liability for illegal actions with payment instruments and the creation of drop networks. The document establishes fines of up to UAH 170,000 or imprisonment for up to eight years. This was reported by Glavcom, according to the portal PromPolitInform.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has submitted draft law No. 16013 to the Verkhovna Rada, introducing criminal liability for illegal operations involving payment instruments, individual accounting information, and access to bank and payment accounts. The document amends the Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes of Ukraine to counter so-called drop networks. The head of state designated this document as urgent for priority parliamentary review.
The new Article 200¹ of the Criminal Code will target the transfer, receipt, acquisition, storage, and other forms of acquiring payment instruments and account access for use in committing crimes. Transferring platforms or accounts to other individuals for fraud carries a fine ranging from 300 to 1,000 non-taxable minimum incomes, which is from UAH 5,100 to 17,000. Meanwhile, acquiring, storing, or selling third-party payment instruments will be punishable by a fine from UAH 51,000 to 170,000, restriction of liberty for two to five years, or imprisonment for two to six years.
Liability for organized criminal schemes
Repeat offenses or actions committed by an organized group will be punishable by imprisonment from five to eight years. The existing Article 200 of the Criminal Code is also being updated to cover the counterfeiting of payment instructions and instruments, as well as the illegal issuance or use of electronic money. Such actions propose a fine from UAH 51,000 to 85,000, or restriction or deprivation of liberty for a term of two to four years.
Misappropriation, theft, or unlawful seizure of payment instruments and access to electronic wallets will be punishable by a fine from UAH 85,000 to 136,000, or imprisonment for three to five years. Similar offenses committed repeatedly or by prior conspiracy of a group of persons entail a fine of up to UAH 170,000 or imprisonment from four to six years. The document also provides for the possibility of applying criminal law measures to legal entities.
Countering conversion centers and illegal business
The explanatory note states that nominal payment accounts have become part of the criminal infrastructure and are used in payment fraud schemes, illegal call centers, and gambling operations. Such networks are involved in legalizing proceeds from crime, conversion operations, and concealing the actual beneficiaries of financial flows. Existing rules complicate the detection of capital movements due to the requirement to prove the complicity of nominal owners in each specific crime.
The proposed amendments aim to close this loophole at the stage of formation and provision of payment infrastructure for such networks. Pre-trial investigations under the new article will be entrusted to the investigative body responsible for the primary criminal offense committed using the transferred payment facilities. The initiative is also aimed at implementing the provisions of European Parliament and Council Directive 2019/713 on combating fraud and counterfeiting of non-cash payment means.
Illustrative photo: RBC-Україна
