Former head of ARMA Olena Duma said that she would once again support the scandalous bill on NABU and SAPO

Duma commented on the bill on limiting the independence of anti-corruption bodies

Former head of the National Agency for Investigation and Asset Management Olena Duma stated during a meeting of the parliamentary temporary investigative commission that she would still support the scandalous bill on the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office.

“I would still support this bill. Because it is not about the independence of the NABU. It is about them holding on to their seats,” the Duma stated.

Ex-head of ARMA denied connections to the “Midas” case

During the meeting, Olena Duma also commented on information about possible connections with the defendants in the “Midas” case, which was investigated by the NABU and the SAPO.

She stated that she was not familiar with one of the defendants in the case, Zuckerman. At the same time, she confirmed that she knew Oleksiy Chernyshov and Herman Galushchenko in connection with her position.

Why the bill caused a public outcry

These are legislative changes that the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine supported in July last year. The document actually expanded the powers of the Prosecutor General regarding the activities of the NABU and the SAPO.

In particular, the law allowed the Prosecutor General to:

appoint prosecutors in corruption proceedings;

transfer NABU cases to other law enforcement agencies;

influence the procedural management in cases of anti-corruption agencies.

At that time, 263 people’s deputies voted for the relevant decision.

Searches were conducted at NABU employees before the vote

On the eve of the vote, law enforcement officers conducted large-scale searches at NABU employees.

Two employees of the bureau were accused of collaborating with the Russian Federation through contacts with fugitive People’s Deputy Fedir Khrystenko. Three more employees were declared suspects due to road accidents that occurred in 2021 and 2023.

After the protests, the authorities returned to the issue of the independence of NABU and SAPO

After the adoption of the scandalous changes, the law was promptly signed by Ruslan Stefanchuk and Volodymyr Zelensky.

This caused a wave of protests in various cities of Ukraine and criticism from international partners.

Subsequently, Zelensky announced a new bill that was supposed to restore guarantees of the independence of NABU and SAPO.

The heads of law enforcement agencies, as well as representatives of the anti-corruption infrastructure, were involved in the development of the new document. NABU and SAPO then positively assessed the proposed changes.