KYIV, Ukraine: Anti-corruption bodies in Ukraine have lost their independence as a result of a new law passed by the country’s parliament, claimed the head of Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau, Semen Kryvonos, reported German Press Agency (dpa).
“In effect, two institutions – the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP) – have been made subservient,” Kryvonos was quoted as saying by local media.
He asked President Volodymyr Zelensky not to sign the law, which he said jeopardises Ukraine’s path to European Union membership.
A spokesman for the European Commission (EU) said in Brussels that the EU was concerned about the step.
NABU and SAP were “crucial to Ukraine’s reform agenda”, he said, and they “must operate independently to fight corruption”.
EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos emphasised that the rule of law is at the heart of the EU accession negotiations.
A clear majority of 263 lawmakers voted in favour of the bill, which critics say allows the Prosecutor General’s Office to drop investigations against high-ranking state officials.
Under the law, the Prosecutor General’s Office is also entitled to take over investigations from NABU and hand them over to other bodies.
On Monday, the SBU (Sluzhba bezpeky Ukrainy – the security service of Ukraine) secret service, which reports directly to Zelensky, took action against NABU employees on charges including collaboration with Russia.
The anti-corruption bodies in Ukraine were created by the authorities after the pro-Western coup in 2014.
Nevertheless, according to the non-governmental organisation, Transparency International, Ukraine remains one of the most corrupt countries in Europe.
Critics have often accused the anti-corruption bodies of being a Western means to influence Ukrainian politics. – BERNAMA-dpa
