Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed into law a bill aimed at combating tax evasion, which expands the list of data that banks can disclose to the national police and allows credit unions to issue donor loans in foreign currencies foreign.

Although the bill was approved by Ukrainian lawmakers last month, it can only come into force after the president signs it, which Zelensky did on Wednesday, November 6, in Parliament. reported website.

The law requires banks to provide information “no later than” within 24 hours of the police request.

Before the law was passed, police could already request information about bank account numbers, money balances on accounts, debit card numbers and financial transactions.

Now banks must also provide information on the date, amount, currency of financial transactions, as well as the geolocation, IP address and cash register address of the transactions.

Banks may provide this information upon request of the Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine, the State Security Service, the State Bureau of Investigation, the State Anti-Corruption Bureau, the National Police of Ukraine, the State Agency for the prevention of corruption and the national agency responsible for the management of arrested assets (ARMA).

If there is a request, banks must also provide the identification data of the person who received the transaction, the name and code of the financial institution providing the transaction (acquiring), the identification number of the payment device and the identification code of the financial transaction.

Other amendments

House Bill 11043 also includes changes to create a better regulatory environment for financial services for people with disabilities, strengthen cybersecurity requirements, and impose higher fines for financial market violations.

The law allows credit unions to allocate donor loans in foreign currencies, which is intended to help small businesses in villages and small towns where banking services are not available.

Fight against “drops”

The law aims to help the National Bank to better combat “drops”.

Droppers are individuals who provide their bank account data, PINs, and online banking access to a third party and earn rewards for using cards for transactions.

These transactions do not show real income – the cards are used as transit tools to allocate illegal income.

The new data list could allow law enforcement to identify all counter agents allowing tax evasion by “abandonment”.

The law sparks debate

Law enforcement will now have the ability to locate individuals, which could worry Ukrainians wishing to avoid conscription or seeking to protect the privacy of their banking transactions.

Opponents have argued that the law opens the way for police to violate human rights.