The Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) has voted in second reading for draft law No. 12414, according to which the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) will become dependent on decisions made by the prosecutor general. Currently, these are independent anti-corruption institutions.

Source: live broadcast of the parliamentary session; MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak on Telegram

Details: A total of 263 MPs voted in favour of the draft law with amendments, including from the following factions:

Servant of the People – 185;European Solidarity – 3;Fatherland – 15;Platform for Life and Peace – 18;Holos (Voice) – 1;Restoration of Ukraine – 9;For the Future –10;Dovira (Trust) – 17.

A number of MPs blocked the rostrum before the vote. As MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak explained, this was “the only theoretical way to try to stop” the adoption of the draft law.

Before this, the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Law Enforcement had supported amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC), according to which the NABU and the SAPO may become dependent on the decisions of the prosecutor general. Currently, these are independent anti-corruption institutions.

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.

NABU and SAPO believe that draft law No. 12414, which was supported by the Verkhovna Rada committee, will effectively destroy the independence of the SAPO and subordinate the activities of the NABU and the SAPO to the Prosecutor General’s Office.

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 that occurred 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 with access to state secrets and conducting covert investigative actions.

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