On July 22, the Verkhovna Rada supported in the second reading Bill No. 12414, which introduces changes to the functioning of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutorʼs Office (SAPO).
This was reported by Yaroslav Zheleznyak, an MP from the “Voice” party.
263 MPs voted pro, 13 voted contra, and 13 abstained.
Ярослав Железняк / Telegram
The document discusses changes to the Criminal Code. Among other things, the Prosecutor General will be given the following powers:
- to take cases from NABU and entrust the investigation to other bodies;
- be the de facto head of SAPO and delegate the powers of the SAPO prosecutor to other prosecutors;
- provide the NABU detectives with mandatory written instructions;
- independently close cases on suspicion of high-ranking officials.
Amendments are also envisaged that will limit the activities of SAPO, namely:
- The SAPO prosecutors will not be able to determine NABUʼs jurisdiction in certain cases;
- the head of SAPO will not be able to resolve disputes about the subjectivity of investigation in cases that the NABU can investigate;
- The head of SAPO will not have the authority to amend appeals and cassation complaints filed by the SAPO prosecutors.
The full document with the proposed amendments was published by anti-corruption activist Vitaliy Shabunin. Transparency International Ukraine believes that the proposals pose a direct threat to the independence of NABU and urged deputies not to support them.
NABU and SAPO emphasized that if the document is adopted, the head of SAPO will become a nominal figure, and NABU will lose its independence and turn into a division of the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office.
During a joint briefing on Tuesday, the structures called on President Volodymyr Zelensky to veto a document restricting their activities.
"We ask you not to sign this bill, to return it with the appropriate veto. [...] We categorically condemn such actions [of the parliament]," said the NABU Director Serhiy Kryvonos.
Head of SAPO Oleksandr Klymenko stated that the adopted law destroys the independence of both agencies from political influence: "This is the end of the independent work of two anti-corruption institutions."
What preceded
On July 21, law enforcement officers conducted mass searches at NABU and SAPO. In particular, they detained one of the heads of the Bureauʼs interregional detective departments Ruslan Maghamedrasulov. According to the investigation, the official was in close contact with the fugitive MP from the banned “OPZZh” party Fedir Khrystenko (he was reported suspected of treason), who is connected to the Russian special services.
NABU reported about 70 searches involving 15 of its employees. They stated that most of them were due to the employeesʼ involvement in a traffic accident (three employees were later reported as suspicious for this ).
SBU also said that it had exposed a mole in NABU who was spying for FSB. At the same time, the Bureau says that back in 2023, the special service was informed about a possible mole, but at that time SBU did not reveal the involvement of the bureau employee in espionage.
NABU and SAPO also accused the Security Service of potentially revealing confidential information about the investigation during investigative actions. SBU called these statements manipulations.
And on July 22, SBU declared the discovery of new leaks of secret data in the NABU — during searches at Khrystenkoʼs house, confidential NABU documents were found.
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