Deputies supported the law on subordinating NABU and SAPO to the Prosecutor General
фото: facebook Ruslan Stefanchuk
On Tuesday, July 22, the Verkhovna Rada voted in favor of a bill that significantly limits the powers of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP), effectively subordinating their activities to the Prosecutor General.
This was announced by Yaroslav Zheleznyak, a member of parliament from the Holos party.
263 parliamentarians voted for the document, despite numerous reservations about the threat to the independence of anti-corruption bodies.
Transparency International Ukraine has already sharply criticized such changes and urged deputies not to support this bill, as it calls into question the continued existence of an independent anti-corruption system.
The head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Anti-Corruption Policy, Anastasia Radina, has extremely negatively assessed the new amendments, calling them “the demolition of NABU and SAPO” and “the transformation of SAPO into a decorative institution.” According to her, now the activities of these bodies will completely depend on the will of the Prosecutor General.
“I ask you, colleagues, not to deceive yourselves and people that you are voting for some kind of mild strengthening of the Prosecutor General, and not the demolition of NABU and SAPO. You are actually destroying the anti-corruption infrastructure,” Radina emphasized.
MP Zheleznyak added that he was supposed to be the first to make amendments to bill No. 12414, but his proposals were ignored. According to him, most of the amendments were transferred to deputies from the Batkivshchyna party, who support such changes.
In response, Zheleznyak announced his intention, together with like-minded people, to block the parliament rostrum, calling it “the only chance to at least theoretically stop the destructive changes.”
As a reminder, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office have published an official statement regarding draft law No. 12414, which is being prepared for the second reading in the Verkhovna Rada. The anti-corruption bodies warn that the latest amendments to the document pose a serious threat to the independence of their activities.
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