Decision to change subordination of anti-corruption authorities in Ukraine in a time of war is very risky - expert

RIGA - Ukraine's decision to change the subordination of anti-corruption institutions in a time of war is very risky, Armands Astukevics, a researcher at the Center for East European Policy Studies, told LETA.

He pointed out that corruption issues in Ukraine have a very long history. "We cannot deny that corruption in Ukraine is very challenging and has been so historically," Astukevics said.

One of the main narratives of Ukraine's current President, Volodymyr Zelensky, has also been about fighting corruption.

After the events of 2014, when Russia first invaded Ukraine, the country created a number of independent institutions to fight corruption, including the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO), which came under the direct authority of a prosecutor-general appointed by the country's president in a draft law signed by Zelensky this week. "The latest decision and the amendment to the law therefore essentially destroy this system," the researcher said.

The question is why such a decision was pushed through and adopted so quickly, which raises concerns that there are attempts to cover up some corruption offenses by officials through political means. "Hence the public outcry," Astukevics said.

Overall, such a decision is very risky and negative, Astukevics said. He thinks that it will certainly be used by Russia, one of whose narratives has consistently been that Ukraine is a corrupt country and that the funds provided to it by its allies during the war are being squandered. "Now this rhetoric will be stronger," Astukevics said. He also does not believe that it is Russia that is organizing the protests. "It is the government's own merit," the researcher added.

The effective fight against corruption has been one of the central issues in Ukraine's progress towards the European Union (EU), so the decision to change the subordination of the anti-corruption bodies could prove a major stumbling block in this respect, Astukevics believes.

"The question is whether the Ukrainian administration will be able to justify its decisions not only with arguments, but also with the facts that this is necessary in a wartime situation," Astukevych said.

This will certainly undermine the trust of Ukraine's allies, the researcher believes.

Astukevics highlighted the fact that not only the decision to change the subordination of the corruption authorities was taken, but also several detentions of NABU officers have taken place in recent days. The presidential administration has partly justified them on the grounds that the institution has a network of Russian spies. Astukevics admitted that the bureau had not really done a good job in investigating all cases and there have been several cases where people had actually escaped punishment. "However, at the moment we are only operating with the information that the presidential administration has provided. And this is a very important point of reference - whether all this really has any basis or whether we will have reason to be much more concerned about what is happening in the domestic politics of Ukraine," the researcher said.

The AFP news agency reports that several thousand people rallied in central Kyiv on Wednesday in an unprecedented protest against a law signed off by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that removes the independence of two key anti-corruption bodies.

The mostly young marchers urged Zelensky to veto the legislation in the biggest protest in Kyiv since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The bill passed on Tuesday is the latest in a series of moves criticized by Ukrainian anti-corruption activists. They warn that growing government pressure threatens Ukraine's reforms and ambition to join the European Union.

Zelensky has rejected the criticism, saying the law was needed to root out alleged Russian influence in anti-corruption institutions -- a charge denied by activists.

"We all share a common enemy: the Russian occupiers," Zelensky said after meeting with top law enforcement and anti-corruption officials on Wednesday.

"And defending the Ukrainian state requires a strong enough law enforcement system -- one that ensures a real sense of justice," he added.

In a statement on social media, he said he would propose a new bill that would "ensure the norms for the independence of anti-corruption institutions".

The law places the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) under the direct authority of the prosecutor general, who is appointed by the president.

After meeting with Zelensky, the NABU and SAPO repeated their criticism of the changes and said "unambiguous legislative steps are required to reinstate the guarantees revoked by parliament".