The Verkhovna Rada will consider Volodymyr Zelenskyʼs bill No. 13533 on "strengthening the powers" of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutorʼs Office (SAPO) on August 31. This bill restores all procedural powers and guarantees of independence for anti-corruption bodies.
This was reported by the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk.
According to him, during the consideration of this bill, he will propose to immediately adopt it as a basis and adopt it in its entirety, as well as support its immediate signing.
What is happening with NABU and SAPO?
On July 22, Volodymyr Zelensky signed Law No. 12414, which amends the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Among other things, this law grants the Prosecutor General 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.
The law also contains amendments that limited 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 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, which continued the next day, July 23.
Already on July 24, at the initiative of Volodymyr Zelensky, the Verkhovna Rada registered draft law No. 13533 on "strengthening the powers" of NABU and SAPO. Anti-corruption authorities supported this initiative.
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