Ukrainian committee passes bill without debate

Members of the Law Enforcement Committee considered draft law No. 12414, which could deprive the NABU and SAP (Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine) of their independence, without a comparative table of amendments for the second reading. Therefore, they voted blindly, CE Report quotes Ukrinform.

This was reported by Yuliia Yatsyk, an independent member of parliament and chair of the Subcommittee on Criminal Procedure Legislation and Operational-Investigative Activities of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Law Enforcement, in a comment to Ukrinform.

According to her, the Law Enforcement Committee met on the morning of July 22.

“The law enforcement committee was convened in the morning for literally five minutes, voted on the amendment number, and closed [the committee meeting]. And the content [of the voted amendment] was not actually discussed. How they gathered and how they announced the committee meeting is questionable,” Yatsyk said.

She emphasized that the meeting was chaired by the deputy chairman of the committee, Maksym Pavliuk. Thus, the members of the law enforcement committee voted to recommend that the Verkhovna Rada adopt in the second reading the draft law "On Amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine Regarding the Specifics of Pre-trial Investigation of Criminal Offenses related to the disappearance of persons under special circumstances in conditions of martial law" No. 12414.

"There was no general table of amendments. Many members of the law enforcement committee did not understand [what they were voting for], because they did not see the content of the amendment as a whole. Therefore, they simply voted “on the word” – for what was discussed. But it turned out that there were other amendments. Therefore, even those MPs from the law enforcement committee who supported the bill in the committee may not vote for the law itself in the chamber," Yatsyk added.

At the same time, she believes that there will be enough votes in the Rada to deprive NABU of its independence.

"I spoke with some representatives of the factions. The average temperature in the chamber is that there are votes in the Rada. I will not support the bill. After all, this is essentially authoritarian rule. But those deputies who have criminal cases with NABU or those who have some controversial issues or investigations by NABU will support this story. I don't know how the opposition will vote, but there are votes in the Rada," she added.