Update from Jul 22, 2:50 p.m.: The chairman of the Verkhovna Rada has already signed the bill. It is now sent to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

UKRAINE, KYIV, Jul 22 — Ukraine’s Parliament voted in the amendments to the bill #12414 that would make anti-corruption government agencies, National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), subordinate to the authority of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, reported MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak in his Telegram channel. 

Several MPs, multiple non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and media warned that the move destroys the independence of anti-corruption organizations in Ukraine, which had been built since 2015 year along with Ukraine’s international partners. 

If signed by the President of Ukraine, this bill will make SAPO’s prosecutors subordinate to the General Prosecutor of Ukraine and give to the General Prosecutor extensive rights to intervene in NABU’s investigations, gain access to materials of investigations, charge top Ukrainian officials — or close any proceedings against them. 

“Basically, (it gives) one person a monopoly on the control over criminal proceedings against all high-ranking officials,” wrote the Anti-Corruption Action Center (ACAC). 

At the joint press briefing following the Parliament’s decision, NABU’s director Semen Kryvonos and SAPO’s head Oleksandr Klymenko asked Zelenskyy to veto the bill and not allow “the end of independent work of two anti-corruption institutions.”

263 MPs, most from Zelenskyy’s party Servant of the People, voted in favour of the bill. According to MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak, the bill will be signed by the Parliament’s chairmen and Volodymyr Zelenskyy “this evening.” 

Yesterday, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) and General Prosecutor’s Office workers conducted over 70 searches without a warrant in the homes and places of work of NABU’s detectives. Some were charged with high treason, collaboration with Russia, others — with being guilty of a traffic accident years ago. 

In the briefing, Kryvonos said that sudden searches of NABU’s detectives, including within the cases that were opened years ago, are aimed to pressure anti-corruption bodies, and they are “direct consequences of NABU’s investigations.” 

In recent weeks, Ukraine’s government didn’t appoint the head of the Bureau of Economic Security (BES), which many anti-corruption activists called unlawful, though the new prime minister disagreed. 

Later, the State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) charged Vitalii Shabunin, Ukraine’s top anti-corruption activist and soldier, with fraud and evasion from military service.  

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