Verkhovna Rada is preparing to strengthen the Prosecutor General’s influence on anti-corruption bodies: Zheleznyak
The Verkhovna Rada plans to consider draft law No. 12414, which provides for changes to the Criminal Procedure Code, in the second reading. On the eve of the review, an amendment was made to the document, which significantly expands the powers of the Prosecutor General in relation to the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP) and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU). About this informs People’s Deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak.
According to him, the draft law provides that the Prosecutor General gets full access to all cases investigated by NABU, or can transfer such access to any other prosecutor. He will have the right to give mandatory written instructions to the detectives of the Bureau and, in case of non-compliance, to change the investigation, transferring cases to other law enforcement agencies.
It is also possible to close the investigation at the request of the defense party by decision of the Prosecutor General. In addition, it is the Prosecutor General who will resolve disputes regarding the investigation and sign suspicions to high-ranking officials. At the same time, the head of the SAP loses the right to join the group of prosecutors, since the final decision on its composition is made exclusively by the Prosecutor General.
“In fact, if this draft law is passed, the Head of the SAP becomes a nominal figure, and NABU loses its independence and turns into a division of the Prosecutor General’s Office. The anti-corruption infrastructure of Ukraine, built since 2015 together with international partners, will be destroyed.” — it is said in the statement of the NABU press service.
We will remind you that on July 21, the Security Service of Ukraine, together with the State Bureau of Investigation, with the participation of the Prosecutor General’s Office, conducted more than 70 searches of employees of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau. Cases related to the alleged cooperation of individual NABU officials with the special services of the Russian Federation caused the greatest resonance. In addition, three detectives of the Bureau were notified of suspicion in connection with traffic accidents that occurred several years ago – suspicions were raised by the SBI.
The Security Service also carried out an unscheduled inspection of the NABU and SAP regarding compliance with the rules of access to state secrets. This is the second such inspection conducted this year. According to the data of the Specialized Anti-corruption Prosecutor’s Office, the law enforcement officers got access to complete information about all operative and investigative measures and special operations carried out by anti-corruption structures. The SBU denies this information.
