The heads of the National Anticorruption Bureau and the Specialized Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office propose to introduce changes to the legislation that will allow them to independently register criminal proceedings against people’s deputies in the Unified Register of Pretrial Investigations. About this stated the head of SAP Oleksandr Klymenko and the director of NABU Semyon Krivonos.
“We insist that since the subjects of NABU and SAP are people’s deputies, it will be fair when NABU and SAP can start investigations on these subjects. Currently, we are obliged to investigate cases concerning these subjects, but we cannot start these investigations.”Klymenko noted.
He emphasized that such a situation is unfair and ineffective:
“We insist that amendments be made to the Criminal Procedure Code and give the right to the heads of NABU and SAP, the Prosecutor General to initiate investigations against people’s deputies, not to approve relevant secret investigative actions, as well as a number of investigative actions”.
Krivonos, in his turn, noted that when NABU detectives receive information about a possible bribe received by a people’s deputy, they are forced to turn to the general prosecutor to register the relevant criminal proceedings.
“We go to the prosecutor general and always feel a certain discomfort. We involve a third party, which is illogical, because it is our information, our investigation, our applicant. Why should we go to a third party and ask to register a case, before that we do not know whether the prosecutor general will agree.” Kryvonos remarked.
He also noted that this approach creates risks of delaying the process or leaking information to the involved parties, which has already happened several times.
“That is why we propose to regulate these things, which will allow us to fight corruption more effectively.” Kryvonos concluded.
We will remind you that the state anti-corruption program for 2023-2025, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers, provides for changes to the law “On the Prosecutor’s Office”. They will grant the right to the Deputy Prosecutor General – the head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, as well as the head of the Main Detective Unit of NABU, to independently enter into the register information about the possible commission of a criminal offense by a people’s deputy.
If these changes are approved, the Prosecutor General’s monopoly on opening criminal proceedings against parliamentarians will be abolished.
