On January 20, the SAPO Selection Board announced the start of candidates’ selection for three positions in the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office.
Applicants will be selected for the following positions:
- Head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office;
- Deputy Head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office;
- the department head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office.
The announcement of the start of the competition must appear on the Prosecutor General’s Office website within three days of the board’s decision. The competition is considered announced from January 25, 2021.
At the meeting, the Board also approved the competition procedure and the methodology for evaluating candidates.
The first meeting of the Selection Board on selecting the SAPO head was held in October 2020. Since then, the board members have elected the head and secretary, decided on the voting procedure, and agreed on the procedure and methodology of the competition for the next three months.
At that time, the absence of the head of such an important anti-corruption institution felt particularly acute. Including the limited powers of the SAPO acting Head Maksym Hryshchuk, Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova has repeatedly intervened in the course of resonant investigations of NABU-SAPO, undermining the independence of these institutions.
TI Ukraine considers such interferences in NABU and SAPO’s work inadmissible, especially in such high-profile cases, and calls on the Selection board to hold a transparent competition as soon as possible and elect a new independent head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office.
