Ukrainian parliament passes Zelensky’s bill restoring anti-corruption agencies’ independence
Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, has approved a law reinstating the powers of the country’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP), reversing controversial legislation adopted just over a week earlier.
The new bill, introduced by President Volodymyr Zelensky, was supported by 331 lawmakers, according to RBC-Ukraine.
For the first time since the start of the full-scale war, the parliamentary session was streamed live online. These broadcasts had previously been banned for security reasons.
On July 22, lawmakers had adopted a bill that effectively stripped NABU and SAP of their independence. Zelensky signed it into law, prompting Ukraine’s first large-scale street protests since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, as well as criticism from Ukraine’s European partners.
Just two days later, on the evening of July 24, the president submitted a new draft law that “essentially reverses the rollback of the anti-corruption agencies’ powers,” RBC-Ukraine reported.
According to the Financial Times, around 70 members of Zelensky’s Servant of the People party were initially reluctant to support the bill. Some reportedly feared that once reinstated, NABU and SAP might investigate MPs who had backed the earlier legislation weakening the agencies’ independence.
