Today, the Parliament may cancel Lozovyi’s amendments: SAP and NABU support the draft law

16 January 08:25

The Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau have supported draft law 12367-3, which, if finally adopted, will cancel the so-called Lozovyi amendments, as activists have been calling for for many years. This is stated in a joint statement of the departments, Komersant ukrainskyi reports.

“There are several bills under consideration by the parliament, but only one of them fully abolishes the Lozovyi amendments. This is draft law No. 12367-3, which has already been supported by the NABU and the SAPO.

“The NABU and the SAPO support the draft law No. 12367-3, which is aimed at increasing the effectiveness of pre-trial investigation and ensuring the inevitability of punishment for corruption offenses. We call on MPs to support it in the first reading and in general,” the statement said.

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It is noted that this draft law provides for important changes to the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, in particular

  • abolishes the provision on closing criminal proceedings due to the expiration of the pre-trial investigation. This will make it impossible for individuals to avoid responsibility due to formal deadlines, even in cases where they have been notified of suspicion. This is especially important for investigating serious and especially serious crimes;
  • allows the head of the SAPO to extend the pre-trial investigation without the need to apply to the investigating judge. This will make it impossible to automatically close the proceedings due to the formal expiration of the investigation period;
  • gives the SAPO the right to create joint investigative teams in NABU cases, which will allow for faster disclosure of complex corruption schemes committed in different jurisdictions;
  • regulates the issue of extradition in corruption crimes: both the Prosecutor General and the Head of the SAPO will now be able to submit requests for extradition of persons suspected in NABU criminal proceedings. This will accelerate the process of returning individuals to Ukraine to bring them to justice.

“The adoption of this draft law will help strengthen the fight against corruption, ensure justice and strengthen public confidence in anti-corruption agencies,” the NABU and the SAPO summarized.

As a reminder, a petition to repeal Lozovyi’s amendments several years ago gained more than 25,000 signatures in an hour.

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What are the Lozovyi amendments?

The infamous Lozovyi amendments were adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of the eighth convocation in October 2017. the “Lozovyi amendments” were named after the MP from the Radical Party of Liashko who proposed them. This proposal was made by MP Andriy Lozovyi. They came into force on March 15, 2018.

lozovyi’s “amendments” led to the following changes:

  • Part 1 of Art. 284 of the CPC was supplemented by clause 10, according to which the grounds for closing criminal proceedings were the expiration of the pre-trial investigation after the notification of suspicion.
  • The procedure for extending the pre-trial investigation period has been changed. Previously, the head of the prosecutor’s office could extend the term to 6 and 12 months, but now these powers have been transferred to the investigating judge.

on December 5, 2023, G7 ambassadors recommend that the current draft SAPO reform be taken as a basis and that the Lozovyi amendments be canceled.

on December 6, 2023, the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Law Enforcement adopted a version of the SAPO reform bill (No. 10060) that does not fully abolish the Lozovyi amendments.

The Anti-Corruption Action Center noted that the law allows corruption cases to continue to be closed without hindrance through manipulation of deadlines.

on December 8, 2023, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine passed the law on the independence of the SAPO, but did not repeal the Lozovyi amendments.

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Остафійчук Ярослав
Editor