The adoption of Bill No. 12414 significantly limited the independence of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutorʼs Office (SAPO).
The heads of departments reported this at a meeting with the president at the Presidential Palace.
"From now on, NABU and SAPO are deprived of the guarantees that previously allowed them to effectively implement their tasks and functions in combating top corruption. To restore full-fledged and independent work, clear and unambiguous steps are needed at the legal level that will restore the guarantees canceled by parliament," the anti-corruption activists emphasized.
NABU and SAPO assured that they will continue to work to maintain the professional capacity of both institutions and thanked citizens for their concern.
The agencies called on international partners to continue to comprehensively support Ukraine in the fight against Russian aggression.
"The strength and resilience of the Ukrainian Defense Forces, the unity of Ukrainian society, and systematic international support are key factors in overcoming the aggressor and establishing the European future of our state," they concluded.
What is happening with NABU and SAPO?
On July 22, the Verkhovna Rada adopted, and President Volodymyr Zelensky signed, Law No. 12414, which amends the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Among other things, the Prosecutor General will be granted 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 the 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 NABU can investigate;
- The head of SAPO will not have the authority to amend appeals and cassation complaints filed by the SAPO prosecutors.
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 unit of the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office. In Kyiv, Odesa, Lviv, and Dnipro, people took to the streets to protest against the bill.
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