EU concerned after Ukraine President signs law curbing anti-corruption bodies
Kiev (dpa) – Protests were held in Kiev on Tuesday evening after a new law passed by the Ukrainian parliament which threatened to curb the independence of anti-corruption investigators was signed by President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“In effect, two institutions – the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP) – have been made subservient,” NABU head Semen Kryvonos was quoted as saying by local media on Tuesday.
Kryvonos asked Zelensky not to sign the law, which he said jeopardises Ukraine’s path to European Union membership.
Several hundred, mostly young people, gathered within sight of the president’s office in Kiev to protest. Chanting “Shame, shame,” they called for a presidential veto of the law, a dpa reporter on the scene said. Protests also took place in the cities of Lviv, Odessa and Dnipro.
Criticism from the EU
A clear majority of 263 lawmakers voted in favour of the bill which critics say allows the Prosecutor General’s Office to drop investigations into 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.
A spokesman for the European Commission 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.
Ukrainian intelligence takes action against anti-corruption bureau
On Monday, the SBU secret service, which reports directly to Zelensky, took action against NABU employees on charges including collaboration with Russia.
A system of anti-corruption authorities was created in Ukraine after the overthrow of Ukraine’s pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych in the wake of pro-Western protests 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. (22 July)
