Draft bill #11087 of March 15, 2024 

Cosponsors: 5 MPs from the factions Holos and Servant of the People with Yaroslav Zhelezniak as the first signatory 

Status: sent for review to the Law Enforcement Committee of the Verkhovna Rada 

Who is affected: Ukrainian citizens, Office of the Prosecutor General, National Anti-Corruption Bureau, Bureau of Economic Security, and Accounting Chamber 

Summary: 

  • the Specialized Economic Prosecutor’s Office (hereafter — SEPO) will be created as a separate body, analogous to oblast prosecutor’s offices 
  • the head of SEPO will be subordinate to the Prosecutor General 
  • the minimum staff for SEPO will be up to 4 thousand people (15% of the established limit of the Bureau of Economic Security staff) 
  • the head of SEPO will have the authority to: 
  • define the composition of units and staff of the SEPO 
  • issue orders regarding the work of prosecutors and prosecutor’s offices 
  • approve provisions on the system of individual quality assessment of the work of prosecutors and SEPO as a whole and on the procedure for measuring and regulating their workload 
  • define budgets and monthly expenditures within the planned budget 
  • have access to state secrets 
  • resolve disputes in criminal proceedings that fall under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Economic Security 
  • have other powers granted to the heads of prosecution bodies 
  • within the structure of SEPO, its auxiliary divisions will be established: administrative department, secure operations department, personnel management department, and other departments 
  • the bill sets salary rates for SEPO prosecutors 
  • SEPO will be the main executor of budget funds allocated for its work. 

What is right: the SEPO should become a separate autonomous unit that will exercise procedural supervision in criminal proceedings under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Economic Security and ensure that the Bureau adheres to law and does not put pressure on businesses. 

What is wrong: the SEPO duplicates the functions of other state bodies. Moreover, the law grants the Prosecutor General the right to create specialized prosecutor’s offices as structural units if needed. 

Alternative solution: to reorganize the BEB into the Bureau of Financial Security, which will deal exclusively with issues of financial threats and abuses and not the entire economy of the state, and create a specialized prosecutor’s office taking into account the functions of the reorganized BEB in compliance with the law. 

Background information:  

  • in January 2021, the Verkhovna Rada passed the Law on the Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine. The newly created Bureau was granted powers to fight economic crime. Previously, such crimes were handled by the tax police and the SSU department of counterintelligence economic security. These two agencies were often accused of systematic abuse of power, pressure on businesses, and corruption 
  • in March 2023, a draft bill was submitted to reboot the BES 
  • during 2023, management problems in the Bureau only escalated and business associations supported the call to reboot the agency 
  • on January 23, 2024, the presidential decree On Urgent Measures to Ensure Economic Security During Martial Law came into force. Guided by this decree, the Cabinet of Ministers submitted to the Verkhovna Rada draft bills on the enhancement of the functioning of the Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine and additional guarantees for the protection of the legitimate interests of entrepreneurship in the course of criminal proceedings. Later, a group of MPs submitted alternative draft bills on these issues. 

Additional information: