Prosecutor General want to ensure that Zelenskyy's initiative causes no harm Ukraine's anti-corruption bodies

Prosecutor General Andrii Kostin has said that the effectiveness of Ukraine’s anti-corruption bodies should only be strengthened and that they cannot lose even part of what they have and what they have achieved.

Source: Kostin at the Four Years of High Anti-Corruption Court: Achievements and Challenges, conference, quoted by Interfax-Ukraine

Details: Commenting on President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's initiative to equate wartime corruption with treason, the Prosecutor General said: "I would not like to answer the question about how the criminal procedural legislation may develop if this issue moves into the political plane...

From my point of view, neither the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine nor the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office can lose even a part of what they have and what they have achieved. We just have to support their ability to work even more efficiently."

Details: According to the Prosecutor General, people's perception of corruption is broader than the legal component of corruption, as society perceives any illegal actions of policemen, border guards, and other representatives of authorities to be corruption.

"Therefore, trying to involve as many bodies as possible in the implementation of such activities – countering all these manifestations – is my duty as a prosecutor general. To provide an opportunity for each pre-trial investigation body to be able to perform its duties effectively," Kostin said.

At the same time, he added that "any proposals for changes to the Criminal Procedure Code must first of all be in line with the criminal policy of the state, and must have the support of the parliament and the president".

The Prosecutor General said it is necessary to make the work of the entire system of law enforcement agencies, including the anti-corruption component, more efficient.

"Any idea should be discussed. This discussion should be open and professional so that the decisions made by the legislator benefit the development of our country," Kostin concluded.

Background: 

• At the end of August, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview for a 24/7 national joint newscast that he intended to submit a bill equating corruption to high treason in wartime.
• As ZN.ua and Ukrainska Pravda sources stated, after the Verkhovna Rada supported the president's proposal to equate wartime corruption with high treason, the government plans to allow the Security Service of Ukraine, not just the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, to investigate corruption cases involving more than 24 million hryvnias [roughly US$644,000].
• On 30 August, the first bill equating corruption to high treason was registered in the Verkhovna Rada {Ukrainian parliament].

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