Controversy: Ukraine restores the independence of anti -corruption bodies

The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ratified a law on Thursday to restore the independence of anti-corruption bodies, returning to a previous text criticized by civil society and the European Union which praised the restoration of “safeguards”.

“I have just signed the document and the text will be published immediately,” he said in a message published on Telegram, welcoming that this legislation guarantees “normal and independent work” of these bodies.

The bill, proposed by the Ukrainian leader, was approved earlier by Parliament, with a total of 331 deputies for, the minimum required being 226, during the plenary session broadcast live.

Prime Minister Ioulia Svyrydenko immediately praised the vote, ensuring that the new law “eliminates the risk of interference in the work of body fighting organizations”. “This is a clear response to the expectations of the company and our European partners,” she added on social networks.

The previous document voted on July 22 placed the National Anti-Corruption Agency (the NABU) and the specialized anti-corruption prosecutor’s office (SAP) directly under the supervision of the Attorney General, himself appointed by the Head of State. Very criticized by Ukrainian civil society and by the EU, kyiv’s key support for Russia, the law had also caused the first magnitude demonstrations in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion in 2022. The initiative had been described as “serious decline” by the European Union.

After the vote, Guillaume Mercier, spokesperson for the European Commission, said that Parliament has “restored the essential guarantees for the independence of corruption organizations”. However, he pointed out that the European Commission had to “examine the final text” of law.

Membership of the European Union “will require continuous efforts to guarantee a strong capacity to combat corruption and respect the rule of law,” he warned.

Gathered near Parliament this Thursday, a hundred people came to demonstrate to enjoin the deputies to vote for this text. “In reality, most people did not come here for Nabu and Sapo; They came to show the authorities that they must fear us, not the other way around, “Vitalina explained to AFP, a demonstrator of his thirty years who did not give her family name.

“While the army defends our country against these cursed Russians, we in the back are there to put pressure on our leaders, so that the country for which soldiers are worth it,” abounds Anastasia, another demonstrator.

Faced with the first serious political crisis since the start of his mandate six years ago, Volodymyr Zelensky first tried to defend the text by accusing the structures concerned of ineffectiveness and of being under “Russian influence”. He ended up ensuring Thursday that he had “listened” to the demonstrators and proposed a new text, praised by the Nabu and the SAP, and which has just been voted by the deputies: this new law renews most of the provisions ensuring the independence of these two bodies.

However, it introduces additional checks, including regular tests to the lies detector for their employees with access to classified information, in order to avoid any “action for profit” of Russia, according to the text published on the Parliament’s website.