“Changed their tune”: The Verkhovna Rada supported restoring powers to Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has passed a law restoring the powers of the country’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO).

This was announced by Member of Parliament Iryna Herashchenko on her Telegram channel.

“The draft laws on restoring the powers of NABU and SAP were supported by a constitutional majority — 331 deputies,” she wrote.

For the first time since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, a session of the Ukrainian parliament was broadcast online.

A total of 331 Members of Parliament voted in favor of the decision. The breakdown of votes was as follows: Servant of the People — 214 votes, European Solidarity — 27 votes, Trust group — 17 votes, Platform for Life and Peace and Restoration of Ukraine (formerly Opposition Platform – For Life) — 17 and 9 votes respectively, Holos (Voice) — 16 votes, non-affiliated deputies — 15 votes, For the Future — 11 votes, Batkivshchyna — 4 votes.

The law repeals most of the amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code that had been introduced by the adoption of draft law No. 12414 regarding NABU and SAPO.

On July 22, the Verkhovna Rada had approved a law to reduce the powers of Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies, which was signed by President Zelensky on the same day.

This decision sparked protests in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, and the European Union expressed concern over the actions of the Ukrainian authorities. In response, on July 24, President Zelensky agreed to restore the powers of NABU and SAPO by submitting the relevant draft law to parliament.