Prosecutor General: NABU and SAPO remain independent. I have never used my powers

Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko does not believe that the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office have lost their independence after the adoption of the amendments to the legislation. He said this at a press conference on July 23 in response to a question from a correspondent of LIGA.net about whether the next Prosecutor General will encroach on the independence of anti-corruption bodies.

According to Kravchenko, SAPO and NABU remained independent, only certain powers were added to the Prosecutor General.

"Analyzing the changes to the legislation, I do not believe that the SAPO and NABU have become dependent. They are independent bodies that operate and carry out their activities. The law states that in appropriate cases and only within the framework of criminal proceedings, the prosecutor has certain powers," he said .

Kravchenko noted that the prosecutor must sign suspicion notices to persons specified by law. And if the case contains evidence, the Prosecutor General will sign the suspicion, and if there is little or no evidence, the Prosecutor General emphasized that he would not sign it.

"If you are familiar with my work, all the cases where I signed the indictment resulted in a guilty verdict," he said .

Regarding public fears that the Prosecutor General will abuse the right granted to him, Kravchenko emphasized that he has never done so in his career.

"I never allowed this to happen during my career, when I worked in Sevastopol, in Lviv, in Rivne, in Debaltseve, in the Prosecutor General's Office, in NABU or as a governor or in the tax service. And I earned my authority by working hard," said the Prosecutor General .

Regarding who will be appointed after him, Kravchenko noted that he will also have to act according to the law.

• On the morning of July 21, the SBU and the Prosecutor General's Office began massive searches of NABU employees, and later notified two top officials of suspicion of ties to Russia. At the same time, the State Bureau of Investigation served suspicions on three NABU officials for accidents that occurred in 2021 and 2023. The SBU also launched an unscheduled inspection of the SAPO's compliance with state secrets .
• On July 22, the Verkhovna Rada supported the law, , which abolishes the independence of the NABU and the SAPO. On the same day, it was signed by President Zelensky, who later noted that the agencies will continue to work, but they need to be cleared of Russian influence.
• At a press conference on July 22, SBU Head Malyuk and Prosecutor General Kravchenko said that a series of searches in NABU had no political basis, reported by a correspondent from the site LIGA.net.
• The SBU chief also emphasized that it is inappropriate to compare Zelenskyy to Yanukovych against the backdrop of the NABU searches. He noted that he would not allow the pro-Russian public to be untouchable in the Ukrainian rear.