NABU, SAPO enter first criminal proceeding in eCase Management System
The eCase Management System, developed for the automation of the pre-trial investigation among detectives, prosecutors, and judges, has finally been launched. On Dec. 16, 2021, NABU Detectives and SAPO Prosecutors entered the first criminal proceeding in eCase MS. This marked a new milestone in the development of criminal justice in Ukraine and proved the inevitability of its digitalization.
The launch of the system occurred right after the approval of its modus operandi. NABU, the Council of Judges of Ukraine, and the Prosecutor General`s Office signed the relevant order on Dec. 15, 2021. Adding Article 106-1 to the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine became yet another precondition for that.
"The National Bureau remains a driver of change in Ukraine's criminal justice system. We introduce innovations to improve the efficiency of pre-trial investigation, and the eCase is one of the tools,” said First Deputy Director of the National Bureau Gizo Uglava.
The National Bureau became the first law enforcement agency in Ukraine to combine the functions of an investigator and an operative in a new profession — the detective. NABU has been an innovator in introducing transparent competitive selection of employees, as well as in creating the Department of Analytics and Information Processing. Employees of the NABU forensic laboratory are the only certified computer forensic experts in Ukraine, and the Bureau’s anti-corruption system has been recognized as the best in Europe.
It is symbolic that the eCase’s launch comes 6 years after the NABU Detectives entered the first criminal proceeding in the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations, giving a start to pre-trial investigation by the newly created anti-corruption bodies.
The development of eCase MS started in 2019 with the technical, expert, and financial support of the European Union Anti-Corruption Initiative in Ukraine. eCase MS provides for the gradual transition of the paper-based criminal process with the participation of the National Bureau, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, and the High Anti-Corruption Court into electronic format. Such a step is intended to increase the efficiency of investigations, ensure the transparency of anti-corruption bodies and save resources.