Lyashko: 51 Ukrainian MPs signed an initiative to impeach President Poroshenko
Interfax-Ukraine reported that according to the Radical Party leader Oleg Lyashko, 51 Members of the Parliament signed an initiative to impeach the President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko.
"The draft resolution of the Verkhovna Rada [the Ukrainian Parliament] on establishment of the Special Investigative Commission of the Verkhovna Rada and the beginning of impeachment procedures against the President of Ukraine are based on the investigation of offshore companies... [in which Poroshenko is accused of] avoiding paying taxes, [and he] doesn't declare property... as of this minute 51 signatures of the people's deputies were collected,” he said.
Last week at a meeting of the Conciliation Council, Lyashko said that he had received petitions to collect signatures for an initiative on the impeachment of the President.
There is no law for impeaching the President of Ukraine except for the provisions of the Constitution. Under the article 111 of the Ukrainian Constitution, the President may be removed from office by the Verkhovna Rada through impeachment if he commits treason or another serious crime. The order for impeachment would be initiated by a majority in the Verkhovna Rada.
In order to conduct an investigation, the Verkhovna Rada would have to create a Special Temporary Investigative Commission, which would include the Special Prosecutor and the Special Investigators. The conclusions and the proposals of the Temporary Investigatory Commission are considered at the meeting of the Council.
Two thirds of the constitutional membership of the Verkhovna Rada must find the President of Ukraine impeachable. The decision on impeachment must be adopted by three quarters of Parliament after the Constitutional Court of Ukraine and hears the case and concludes that constitutional procedures have been followed, and after the Supreme Court of Ukraine finds attributes of state treason or other crimes.