In order to give the official answer to the Prosecutor General`s Office message on inconsistency of practice of reclaiming criminal proceedings from PGO to NABU for the further investigation we would like to emphasize the following.
According to paragraph 4 of the article 17 of the law “About the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine” NABU under the decision of the Director accorded with the Anti-corruption prosecutor is eligible to reclaim the operational-search cases and criminal proceedings which are of NABU jurisdiction according to abovementioned law or can be used for prevention, suppression and detection of criminal offenses ascribed to its jurisdiction from other law enforcement bodies.
At the same time part 2 of the article 1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine defines that “criminal procedural law of Ukraine consists of corresponding provisions of the Constitution of Ukraine, the international treaties ratified by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, this Code and other laws”.
Thus, the article 17 of the NABU law is the part of the criminal procedural legislation of Ukraine and, therefore, is the legitimate reason for reclaiming proceedings according to defined procedure.
“I`m calling our Prosecutor General`s Office colleagues to stop exchanging different interpretations of law provisions which, in fact, prevent from ambiguous interpretation. I`m calling them to execute the direct provision of the law like other law enforcement bodies do. It is not worth spending the precious time for casuistry when the society demands concrete and decisive actions for overcoming and fighting corruption” – said Artem Sytnyk.