Legislation on the creation of the service for investigation of financial offenses should be passed by Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada by end-April 2017, according to a memorandum of cooperation between Ukraine and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

"[Ukraine's] parliament is expected to adopt legislation about a new civil service responsible for investigation of financial offences to replace the current tax police and to consolidate responsibilities of fighting financial offenses against the state into a single agency, while avoiding duplication of functions," reads the document.

The new financial police will have a much smaller staff, the majority of which will be hired outside the current law enforcement system and will be better paid and equipped.

Responsibilities of the new financial police and the State Fiscal Service (SFS) will be clearly delineated and we will ensure that strong cooperation exists between the two agencies. At the same time, the government will maintain adequate capacity in the SFS allowing it to fight against tax fraud.