Transparency International Ukraine urges MPs not to vote for bill that threatens anti-corruption agencies' independence

Transparency International Ukraine has called on the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) not to support draft law No. 12414, "On amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure regarding particular features of the pre-trial investigation of criminal offences related to the disappearance of persons under special circumstances during martial law", arguing that the bill "could destroy key guarantees of the independence of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO)".

Source: Transparency International Ukraine on Telegram

Details: The organisation emphasised that the draft law would give the prosecutor general the power to:

• remove cases from NABU and assign investigations to other bodies;
• become the de facto head of SAPO and reassign the powers of a SAPO prosecutor to other prosecutors;
• give binding written instructions to NABU detectives;
• independently close cases where senior officials are under suspicion.

It also noted that the draft law will significantly limit SAPO’s procedural autonomy. SAPO prosecutors will be deprived of the ability to determine the jurisdiction of NABU in exceptional cases, and the head of SAPO will be unable to resolve jurisdiction disputes with regard to cases that may be investigated by NABU and will not have the authority to change appeals and cassation appeals filed by SAPO prosecutors.

Transparency International Ukraine says it has received confirmation from a number of sources that the vote is scheduled for 22 July. This means that MPs are also "in serious breach of Article 116 of the Verkhovna Rada's Rules of Procedure", which concerns the deadlines for submitting proposals and amendments to bills being prepared for a second reading.

Transparency International Ukraine said in a statement: "This poses a direct threat to the independence of NABU, one of the key anti-corruption bodies established with the support of international partners as an institution protected from political influence. We call on MPs not to support these legislative changes and not to reverse the results of the reforms that we have all been consistently achieving since 2014."

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