Procedural Obstacles in Cases of Appealing Decisions, Actions, Inaction of the National Agency for on Corruption Prevention

Abstract

The relevance of the article lies in the fact that fair and correct resolution of administrative cases involving appeals against decisions, actions and omissions of the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption is possible only if all the principles of administrative justice are observed. Good faith in the exercise of procedural rights and strict observance of obligations by all participants to administrative proceedings is defined as one of the principles of administrative justice, and its observance plays a key role in achieving the objective of administrative justice. The purpose of the article is to analyze procedural obstacles, in particular, abuse of procedural rights, in the course of consideration of cases involving appeals against decisions, actions and inactions of the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption. The study applies dialectical, formal legal, comparative legal, logical and semantic, statistical methods of scientific knowledge, as well as methods of observation, forecasting, classification and grouping, and prediction. The author examines certain aspects of the organization and activities of the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption. It is proved that the most common administrative cases involving appeals against decisions, actions or omissions of the NAPC are the recognition as unlawful and the reversal of the decision of this public administration entity on the results of a full verification of the declaration of a person authorized to perform the functions of the State or local self-government. It is emphasized that procedural obstacles may arise during consideration of cases involving appeals against decisions, actions, and inactions of a public authority. The author examines such a procedural obstacle as abuse of procedural rights. The author analyzes the dual aspect of abuse of procedural rights, in particular, the substantive and procedural aspects. The author establishes that abuse of procedural rights which have a substantive legal aspect may arise when applying to an administrative court. It is noted that the procedural and legal aspect is related to the abuse of procedural rights at various procedural stages of administrative proceedings to appeal against decisions, actions and inactions of the NAPC, in particular: 1) opening of proceedings; 2) preparatory proceedings; 3) consideration of the case on the merits; 4) adoption and adoption of a court decision. The author provides the stages at which abuse of procedural rights may occur, given that the case is considered in the form of general action proceedings by the court of first instance. Based on the study, the author formulates conclusions and provides recommendations that abuse of procedural rights as a procedural obstacle in administrative cases concerning appeals against decisions, actions, and inactions of the NAPC may have a dual purpose: to create procedural obstacles and to delay the consideration of a case. The application of procedural consequences by the court depends on the type of abuse of procedural rights committed at a particular stage of the proceedings.