President Volodymyr Zelensky will propose to the Verkhovna Rada a new draft law on the work of anti-corruption bodies.
He stated this in an evening address.
"I will propose to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine a bill that will be a response that will provide strength to the law enforcement system. And there will be no Russian influence or interference in the activities of law enforcement agencies, and — very importantly — all the norms for the independence of anti-corruption institutions will be in place," the president said.
He added that he expects proposals from the heads of law enforcement and anti-corruption agencies regarding norms that should work.
"This will be a presidential bill, and we will implement it as part of our strategy for transforming the state," Zelensky noted.
The president added that "everyone has heard what people are saying these days" and analyzed "all the concerns, all the aspects of what needs to be changed".
NABU and SAPO welcomed Zelenskyʼs initiative to prepare a new draft law on the work of anti-corruption bodies. They are ready to discuss and prepare a legislative solution that will eliminate legal risks and comply with the rule of law.
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 top 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 investigation in cases that can be investigated by the NABU;
- 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.
What preceded the law
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 almost 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 the 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 reported the discovery of new leaks of secret data in the NABU — during searches at Khrystenkoʼs house, confidential NABU documents were found.
After studying the materials of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office, the court arrested two NABU employees — an employee of the NABU Central Office, who, according to the investigation, works in the closed unit "D-2", and one of the heads of the interregional departments of the NABU detectives Ruslan Maghamedrasulov.
For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine, please follow us on X.