The Verkhovna Rada raised the threshold for criminal liability for petty theft 10 times

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The Verkhovna Rada abolished criminal liability for petty thefts in the amount of up to 3,028 hryvnias.

The corresponding bill No. 11068 was supported in the second reading by 243 deputies, People's Deputy Yaroslav Zhelezniak said.

Currently, theft is considered petty if the value of the stolen property at the time of the crime does not exceed 0.2 of the tax-free minimum income of citizens — 302,8 hryvnias.

The authors of the draft law note cases when, for example, a five-year suspended sentence is given for stealing a bottle of whiskey worth 596 hryvnias. Deputies believe that such punishments do not correspond to the gravity of the crime, so they decided to raise the threshold of criminal liability.

At the same time, the draft law provides for the strengthening of administrative punishments for petty theft — up to 5,100 hryvnias, and for serial thieves who have committed several offenses during the year.

We will remind that the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine supported in the first reading draft law №11340, which allows officials suspected of corruption crimes to pay a fine for their offenses.