By Dan Peleschuk
(Reuters) -Ukraine’s parliament voted on Tuesday to tighten restrictions on two key anti-corruption agencies, lawmakers said, rolling back the autonomy of institutions that have been at the centre of the government’s reform programme.
Stamping out endemic graft is a central requirement for Kyiv to join the European Union, and independent investigators have in recent months embarrassed senior officials with allegations of corruption.
Tuesday’s vote paves the way for the presidentially appointed general prosecutor to gain more control over the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office.
On Monday, the domestic security agency arrested two NABU officials on suspicion of ties to Russia and conducted dozens of searches into agency employees on other grounds.
Critics including the two agencies said the crackdown went too far and compromised their mission.
Speaking to reporters in Kyiv, NABU chief Semen Kryvonos urged President Volodymyr Zelenskiy not to sign the bill, which he described as an attempt to “destroy” Ukraine’s anti-corruption infrastructure.
No senior Ukrainian official has yet publicly commented on the reasoning for Tuesday’s draft law, which would allow the general prosecutor to reassign cases and prosecutors from the two agencies.
Ahead of the vote, European Commission spokesperson Guillaume Mercier voiced concern about its consequences.
“These institutions are crucial to Ukraine’s reform agenda and must operate independently to fight corruption and maintain public trust,” Mercier said.
“Ukraine’s EU accession will require a strong capacity to combat corruption and to ensure institutional resilience.”
(Reporting by Dan Peleschuk and Yuliia Dysa; editing by Kevin Liffey and Mark Heinrich)
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