Transparency International Ukraine calls on Rada not to support bill on investigation of missing persons cases after amendments on operation of SAPO and NABU

The public organization Transparency International Ukraine calls on the Verkhovna Rada not to adopt bill No. 12414 "On amendments to the criminal procedure code of Ukraine regarding the peculiarities of pretrial investigation of criminal offenses related to the disappearance of persons missing in special circumstances under martial law", since it could destroy key guarantees of the independence of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO).

"In particular, the amendments to the bill grant the prosecutor general the following powers: to take cases away from NABU and assign investigations to other bodies; to be the de facto head of the SAPO and delegate the powers of the SAPO prosecutor to other prosecutors; to provide NABU detectives with mandatory written instructions; to independently close cases on suspicion of top officials," the message posted on the Telegram channel states.

It is noted that the procedural autonomy of the SAPO is also significantly limited, since SAPO prosecutors will be deprived of the opportunity to determine the jurisdiction of NABU in exceptional cases, the head of the SAPO will not be able to resolve disputes about jurisdiction in cases that can be investigated by NABU, and the head of the SAPO will not have the authority to change appeals and cassation complaints filed by SAPO prosecutors.

"The deputies are also seriously violating Article 116 of the Verkhovna Rada Rules of Procedure, since they are radically changing the subject of regulation of draft law 12414. It is these destructive changes that are currently not publicly available. But Transparency International Ukraine has received confirmation from a number of sources that the vote is planned for today," the report notes.

"This poses a direct threat to the independence of NABU, one of the key anti-corruption bodies created with the support of international partners as an institution protected from political influence. We call on MPs not to support such legislative changes and not to cancel the results of the reforms that we have all consistently achieved since 2014," the NGO urged.