President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on May 30 is allowing the National Anti-Corruption Bureau to directly cooperate with anti-corruption agencies abroad.
Zelenskiy’s press office said that, under the law, the NABU has the right to directly communicate with foreign anti-corruption agencies and send and receive requests for international legal assistance.
“However, due to the former president (Petro Poroshenko)’s lack of political will and with the aim of obstructing the NABU’s work, the implementation of the bureau’s international cooperation authority had been blocked,” Zelenskiy’s press office said.
Poroshenko’s press office did not respond to a request for comment.
Zelenskiy instructed the Foreign Ministry to inform the Council of Europe and the United Nations that the NABU can directly cooperate with foreign colleagues.
Previously the NABU could only cooperate with foreign agencies indirectly through the Prosecutor General’s Office.
Vitaly Shabunin, head of the Anti-Corruption Action Center’s executive board, told the UNIAN news agency that Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko’s office had been effectively blocking the NABU’s cooperation with foreign agencies.
Lutsenko’s spokeswoman Larysa Sargan denied the accusations, arguing that the NABU had successfully cooperated with foreign government bodies.
The NABU welcomed Zelenskiy’s decision.
Igor Yarchak, head of the NABU’s legal department, said on Facebook that previously problems had arisen every time the bureau applied for international legal assistance. He said Zelenskiy’s decision resolved the issue.
