President signs into law deferment of anti-corruption laws

On 29 December, President Yushchenko signed Law № 1787-VI “On amendments to some laws of Ukraine on preventing and countering corruption”.  Thus, despite calls from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and other international bodies, the anti-corruption laws will now come into force no earlier than 1 April 2010.  The Verkhovna Rada is supposedly going to use the three months to rectify flaws in the laws, however this seems somewhat improbable given the presidential elections.