Prosecutor’s office continues abusing function of general supervision – expert

Date: 05 February 2016

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The prosecutor’s office has been banned from exercising the function of general supervision since October 26, 2014 (the date of publication of the new law on the prosecutor’s office). However, it continues to do so.

Oleksandr Banchuk, the expert of the Center for Political and Legal Reforms, said this in a commentary to Human Rights Information Center.

“Since autumn of 2014, according to the new law, the prosecutors are not allowed to check the enterprise or government agencies, or to require them to provide certain documents or other information. Such actions of the prosecutor’s office are possible only in case of criminal proceedings. However, the practice has turned out to be not as rosy as the provisions of the law,” the expert said.

According to him, five hundred public agencies (ministries, services, inspectorates, agencies, public administrations) and their territorial divisions, as well as the state-owned enterprises met with the illegal activities of the prosecutor’s office in 2015.

This is indicated by the message posted on the website of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine, saying that the prosecutors submitted 612 recommendations on the elimination of conditions that cause corruption last year.

However, the prosecutor’s office submitted only eleven criminal proceedings over corruption crimes to the court in 2015.

“As they say, feel the difference – 612 recommendations and 11 proceedings!” Oleksandr Banchuk stressed.

According to him, this testifies to the fact that the information for more than five hundred recommendations of the prosecutors was obtained as a result of inspections not provided for by the new law (and therefore not allowed).

“In fact, this message of the prosecutor’s office is the acknowledgment of guilt of committed violations of the law and at least disciplinary measures should be applied to every prosecutor, who has submitted such a recommendation as a result of illegal actions,” Oleksandr Banchuk said.