Today, Members of Parliament Inna Sovsun, Yaroslav Zhelezniak, Anastasiia Radina, and 45 other MPs registered Draft Law No. 13531 aimed at restoring the institutional independence of bodies responsible for pre-trial investigations and procedural oversight in corruption cases.
The authors of the draft propose reinstating the regulatory framework for anti-corruption bodies that existed before Law No. 4555-IX (originally Draft Law No. 12414).
Specifically, the draft law provides that:
– NABU and SAPO case materials will not be requested by other bodies, and “exclusive” jurisdiction over high-level corruption cases will be restored
– The SAPO will be managed independently by its head, without unjustified oversight or procedural bypasses via the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO)
– The NABU and the SAPO will be able to issue notices of suspicion to ministers, the President’s Office leadership, the SBI, the ESBU, and other top officials independently
– The Head of SAPO will be authorized to approve motions to extend investigations for up to 12 months
– The right to conduct urgent searches without a court order in corruption-related proceedings will remain in place.
In addition, the draft proposes reinstating the requirement that prosecutors may be employed at the PGO and regional prosecutor’s offices only through competition.
It is worth noting that Draft Law No. 13531 does not introduce any new changes. Therefore, we urge its adoption in the first reading and as a whole.
To fully resolve the problems facing the NABU and the SAPO, further amendments will be needed — as pointed out, for example, by international auditors. However, the first step must be to restore the status that existed before the harmful changes that swiftly nullified 11 years of progress.
