Law on NABU and SAPO to be challenged in the CCU: MPs initiate motion
23 July 2025 08:57
MPs from different factions have started collecting signatures to submit to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine a petition to declare unconstitutional the recently adopted law, which, in their opinion, deprives the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP) of their independence. This was reported by MPs of the Voice faction Yaroslav Zheleznyak and Yaroslav Yurchyshyn in their posts on Facebook, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports
“In fact, the only thing that can be done now to remedy the situation is to demolish this shoddy law in the Constitutional Court. Moreover, so many articles of the Rules of Procedure were violated during its approval that it is quite realistic,” Zheleznyak said.
According to him, this is currently the only legal mechanism to stop the rule, which will come into force on July 23 after it is signed by the president and published in the Voice of Ukraine.
His colleague Yurchyshyn called on other parliamentary factions to join the initiative:
“This is a chance to protect anti-corruption institutions and prevent the final dismantling of the independence of the NABU and the SAPO. We have started the process, but we need at least 45 signatures. Please join us.”
In case of successful collection of signatures, the petition may be sent to the Constitutional Court, which will have to assess the compliance of the law with the country’s Basic Law.
It should be noted that on the evening of July 22, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a law restricting the independence of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office.
Prior to that, people in a number of cities took to the streets in peaceful protests against the signing of the law. In particular, in Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Dnipro, Lutsk, Poltava, and Ternopil. The protesters chanted and called for the law to be vetoed.
What you need to know about draft law No. 12414
The draft law was initiated by MPs Maksym Pavliuk, Viacheslav Medianyk, Oleksandr Bakumov, and Serhiy Minko.
The document was registered in the Verkhovna Rada on January 16, 2025. On April 29, the bill was adopted as a basis. On Tuesday, July 22, the law was adopted (263 MPs pressed the green button) and sent to the President of Ukraine for signature.
Officially, the document concerns amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code regarding the investigation of disappearances under special circumstances during martial law. But, according to MP Anastasia Radina, it has been amended to actually subordinate the NABU and the SAPO to the Prosecutor General.
In particular, the law gives the Prosecutor General the following powers
- access to all NABU cases and delegate this access to other prosecutors;
- provide written instructions to NABU detectives and change the jurisdiction of cases;
- to independently resolve disputes over jurisdiction and sign suspicions to top officials;
- exclusively decide who is part of the group of prosecutors, depriving the head of the SAPO of this right;
- to close investigations at the request of the defense.
On the eve of the adoption of the draft law, the SBU and the Prosecutor General’s Office announced that they had exposed Russian influence on the NABU. According to law enforcement officials, some NABU employees are accused of treason, illegal trade with Russia, and working in the interests of oligarchs. At least 70 searches were conducted.
