On April 3, 2022, the Corporate Governance Professional Association (CGPA) and Ukrainian Bar Association (UBA) appealed to the Office of the President of Ukraine and People’s Deputies with the request to veto the Bill on amendments to some laws of Ukraine concerning the monitoring of potential threats to the national security of Ukraine 7176, adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on April 1, 2022. The full text of the appeal is at the link.
On April 9, the Ukrayinska Pravda published an article by Oleksandr Lysenko and Andriy Boytsun, specialists of the Corporate Governance Department at Kyiv School of Economics, entitled “State companies at war – why the new draft law is harmful and how to make it right. Bill 7176 proposes firing members of Supervisory Boards who will not be able to be at meetings in person. Why does this jeopardise corporate governance reform?” where they clearly and in detail argue the position why this bill is harmful and should not be passed.
“Of course, today, it is better to avoid debates with the authorities where it does not matter. But in this case, as it seems to me, the situation is used as a screen to implement the long-standing intentions to “bury” the institution of independent directors in state-owned companies. The circle of stakeholders of such actions and their interests is obvious. I am sure that even in the wartime, there should be no rolling back of the already achieved standards of corporate governance”, Oleksandr Okuniev, Chairman of the CGPA Management Board, considers.