Yatsenyuk suggests depriving Prosecutor General’s Office of investigation functions

The Prime Minister of Ukraine urges to set up new independent State Bureau of Investigation.

Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk said this in the TV program “Ten minutes with the Prime Minister.”

“We should deprive the Prosecutor General’s Office of the investigation functions and to set up a new independent State Bureau of Investigation,” the Head of Government said.

The PM added that this week the Parliament should adopt a number of other important laws, including the budget, tax reform and the introduction of the visa-free regime with the EU for Ukrainian citizens.

As “The Ukrayinska Pravda” (“Ukrainian Truth”) Ukrainian media outlet reports, the human rights organization Transparency International Ukraine stated that the top leadership of the state were trying to establish the control over key anti-corruption bodies through Prosecutor General of Ukraine Viktor Shokin.

“These officials deprive Ukraine of the future without corruption, deprive the citizens of the opportunity to travel to Europe without visas,” the organization noted.

In particular, the human rights activists claim that Yuri Sevruk, Yuri Hryshchenko, Roman Balita and Mykola Sadovyi, appointed by Shokin as the delegates to the commission for establishing the specialized anti-corruption prosecutor’s office, held the senior posts in the prosecutor’s offices under the rule of Viktor Yanukovych.

In addition, the human rights defenders state that “the Prosecutor General and the chief executives of the country now tolerate the deliberate campaign for discrediting the representatives of the reformist wing of the General Prosecutor’s Office.” This, in particular, refers to Deputy Prosecutor General Vitaly Kasko, who is considered to be a front-runner for the position of the anti-corruption prosecutor.

As a reminder, after the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine had announced the requirement to replace the members of the commission for establishing the specialized anti-corruption prosecutor’s office, the Prosecutor General stated in the letter to Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin that he saw “the signs of a criminal offense aimed at undermining the authority of public authorities” in the actions of the Foreign Ministry. The letter was followed by the picketing outside premises of the Prosecutor General’s Office.