Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers has approved a draft bill on special confiscation, which allows the pretrial seizure of money and other assets earned illegally, and sent it to parliament.

The cabinet took this decision at its meeting on Wednesday, an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent reported.

"The Ukrainian government is sending a draft bill to Ukraine's Vekrhovna Rada to amend some legal acts as for ensuring the transfer of corrupt assets to the national budget," Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko said at the government meeting.

The Ukrainian government managed to have $1.5 billion related to the corrupt regime of former President Viktor Yanukovych, seized in 2014, he said.

Yet, despite the government's appeals, the parliament failed to pass the special confiscation bill, which would let the seized assets be funneled into the national budget.

The bill was drafted with the participation of Ukrainian lawmakers and was endorsed by experts from the European Commission.