The Verkhovna Rada adopted a law on subordinating the activities of the NABU and the SAPO to the Prosecutor General
The Verkhovna Rada adopted draft law No. 12414, which effectively eliminates the independence of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP) and makes them dependent on the Prosecutor General. About this informs people’s deputy from the “Voice” fraction Yaroslav Zheleznyak.
The law was supported by 263 people’s deputies. 13 spoke against, the same number abstained, and 35 did not vote at all. The faction “Servant of the People” gave the most votes – 185. Platform “For Life and Peace” – 18, “Restoration of Ukraine” – 9, “Trust” – 17, “Fatherland” – 15, “For the Future” – 10, “Eurosolidarity” – 3, “Voice” – 1.
According to the amendments that were added to the document before the second reading, the Prosecutor General gets the right to actually lead the SAP, to transfer the powers of the SAP prosecutor to other prosecutors, as well as to give NABU mandatory written instructions, to demand from him the materials of any cases and to change the responsibility, transferring the investigation to other bodies. Thus, the new provisions make the activities of NABU and SAP dependent on the will of the Prosecutor General.
Fedir Venislavskyi, a member of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence, said that “SAP has definitely lost its independence”, and as for NABU, according to him, “it will be seen within a few months.”
“The anti-corruption infrastructure was destroyed by the votes of 263 people’s deputies. What was created as a request of Euromaidan, as a request of society to fight against high-ranking corruption, was destroyed today.” — emphasized NABU director Semyon Kryvonos at a briefing.
