The Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) Committee on Law Enforcement has supported amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC), according to which the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) may become dependent on the decisions of the prosecutor general. Currently, these are independent anti-corruption institutions.

Source: Ukrainska Pravda sources in the law enforcement committee; committee proposals to draft law No. 12414

Details: At a committee meeting on the morning of 22 July, MPs recommended that parliament adopt draft law No. 12414, which provides for amendments to the CPC, with committee proposals, in the second reading.

Among other things, parliamentarians propose to adopt the document with amendments, as a result of which the prosecutor general will be able to:

delegate the powers of a SAPO prosecutor to other prosecutors;request materials from any cases and delegate them to other prosecutors;provide the NABU with written instructions that are binding;delegate NABU criminal proceedings to other pre-trial investigation bodies.

Committee Chairman Serhii Ionushas, his first deputy Andrii Osadchuk and the head of the relevant subcommittee on criminal law and combating crime, Oleksandr Bakumov, were not present at the meeting.

Most committee members learned about the meeting and the decisions made during it after the fact.

The Verkhovna Rada may consider this bill in the second reading at its meeting on 22 July. If the document is adopted, the prosecutor general will become the de facto head of the SAPO prosecutors.

Background:

On 21 July, employees of the Security Service of Ukraine and the Prosecutor General’s Office conducted approximately 80 searches of 19 employees of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau in various oblasts of Ukraine.The security forces did not have court warrants to conduct the searches, but they do not consider this a violation of the law since obtaining such warrants could “cause information leaks” and “harm the conduct of special operations”.NABU detectives are charged with treason, illegal trade with Russia and corruption in the interests of oligarchs. Meanwhile, the State Bureau of Investigations has stepped up its efforts with materials on a traffic accident several years ago involving NABU employees.Representatives of the Security Service of Ukraine and the Office of the Prosecutor General are also checking the state of state secrecy protection in the SAPO. The check concerns NABU employees who have access to state secrets and to conducting covert investigative actions.

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