“Did not exercise his right”: the Prosecutor General did not receive access to any NABU case
During action No. 12414, which limited the independence of the NABU and the SAPO, the Prosecutor General was not granted access to the criminal proceedings of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau.
NABU Director Semen Kryvonos said this in an interview with the BBC Ukrainian service .
As he explained, according to the law, the Prosecutor General could request cases, read materials, and familiarize himself with data from secret investigative actions — information about whistleblowers and wiretapping.
However, according to Kryvonos, Prosecutor General Kravchenko did not exercise this right while the law was in effect.
“This did not happen. We know for sure that the whistleblowers were very nervous about this. Indeed, there were problems with cooperation with the whistleblowers. It was an absolute disaster. But now we have calmed them down, because everything is back,” the director of the bureau noted.
He added that Kravchenko did not take any cases and later confirmed this publicly.
“He did not gain access to any of the cases. Society should be calm in this regard,” Kryvonos concluded.
As a reminder, on July 22, the Verkhovna Rada voted for 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, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed it.
By the way, US Senate members Jeanne Shaheen and Lindsey Graham expressed concern about a law recently passed in Ukraine, which, according to them, weakens the independence of anti-corruption institutions by subordinating them to the Prosecutor General.
It is worth noting that society negatively perceived the actual destruction of anti-corruption bodies. On July 22 and 23, hundreds of people in many cities of Ukraine took to rallies against Law No. 12414.
Later, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky submitted to the Verkhovna Rada a law on “strengthening the powers of the NABU and the SAPO” . The document stipulates that the Prosecutor General and his deputies do not have the right to give instructions to prosecutors of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office. The Prosecutor General is also prohibited from influencing the work of NABU detectives.
And later, on July 31, the Verkhovna Rada voted for a bill that returns independence to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office.
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