Stefanchuk signs law curtailing NABU and SAPO powers

MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak announced this on Telegram, Ukrinform reports.

“The speaker has signed draft law No. 12414 on the dismantling of NABU and SAPO, and it has now been sent to the president for signature,” Zhelezniak wrote, referencing the document’s official status on the parliament’s website.

On July 22, the Verkhovna Rada adopted the law, which effectively reduces the powers of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO).

The bill, titled “On the Introduction of Amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine Regarding the Specifics of Pre-Trial Investigations into Criminal Offenses Related to the Disappearance of Persons Under Exceptional Circumstances During Martial Law,” underwent several significant revisions.

Key provisions of the law grant the Prosecutor General expanded control over NABU’s investigations, including full access to all NABU cases or the right to delegate such access to another prosecutor, the authority to issue binding written instructions to NABU detectives and to reassign cases to other investigative bodies if those instructions are not followed, the power to close investigations at the request of the defense team, sole discretion to resolve jurisdictional disputes, the exclusive right to sign indictments against top officials, and the removal of the SAPO head’s authority to be part of a prosecutorial group, with such a decision now left solely to the Prosecutor General.

Anti-corruption agencies have warned that the law would render the SAPO head a nominal figure and eliminate NABU’s independence, effectively subordinating it to the Prosecutor General’s Office.

Following the vote, NABU Director Semen Kryvonos urged the president not to sign the law, warning that “two independent institutions — NABU and SAPO — are now being placed under full political control.”

Photo credit: Vadym Sarakhan, Verkhovna Rada press service