Benchmarks for EU Accession: MPs Propose Expanding NABU's Jurisdiction to the Leadership of the SBI and SEB

The European Union has officially opened the first negotiation cluster for Ukraine — "Foundations." From now on, reforms in the rule of law and anti-corruption sectors have become official benchmarks on which Ukraine's EU membership depends. Progress in areas such as the reboot of the SBI, expansion of NABU and SAP jurisdiction, is now a mandatory condition for opening the next sectoral clusters. To accelerate this process, a group of MPs has already registered several bills.

Thus, two documents have been registered in the Verkhovna Rada — No. 15334 and No. 15335 — aimed at strengthening the independence of NABU and SAP and eliminating procedural gaps exploited by corruption case defendants.

From declarations to deadlines

The opening of the "Foundations" cluster signals that the EU expects Ukraine to implement the reform plan.

Among the official requirements of the cluster:

• Complete reboot of the SBI with a new transparent procedure for selecting the head.
• Prevention of automatic case closures and procedural delays.
• Expansion of NABU and SAP jurisdiction.

Bill No. 15334

The first document aims to protect the exclusive jurisdiction of NABU and SAP. The main goal is to stop the practice of artificially transferring high-profile cases to other law enforcement agencies.

The document proposes significantly expanding the powers of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office.

Key innovations include expanding the list of officials whose cases NABU will investigate. It is proposed to include the director and management of the SBI, heads of regional state administrations and their deputies, heads of military and military-civil administrations, leadership of the Economic Security Bureau, as well as members of supervisory boards of state companies where the state's share exceeds 50%.

The bill also strengthens the procedural autonomy of the SAP. In cases where the same criminal proceeding is simultaneously investigated by different law enforcement agencies, the final decision on jurisdiction will be made by the prosecutor of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office.

A separate block of changes concerns international cooperation. The head of the SAP will gain the right to independently create joint investigative groups with foreign partners and send extradition requests in NABU cases. This is expected to speed up the search and return to Ukraine of persons hiding from investigation abroad.

Bill No. 15335

The second bill in the anti-corruption package — No. 15335 — is designed to eliminate procedural mechanisms that allow delays in investigations and court proceedings of criminal cases.

The bill proposes abandoning the practice of automatic closure of criminal proceedings solely due to expiration of established pre-trial investigation deadlines. At the same time, control over compliance with reasonable deadlines is maintained: the suspect, their defender, or the victim will be able to appeal to the investigative judge to oblige the prosecutor to make a procedural decision and complete the investigation.

The document also provides a number of tools to combat abuse of procedural rights. In particular, courts will have the right to reject repeated motions if they do not contain new circumstances, limit the duration of participants' speeches in cases of obvious delays, and continue hearings in the absence of one of the defenders if another lawyer participates in the case.

Additionally, the bill changes the procedure for extending pre-trial investigation deadlines. It is proposed to return to the heads of prosecution authorities the powers to extend pre-trial investigation deadlines up to six and twelve months depending on the complexity of the case. For especially complex cases, the possibility of extending deadlines up to 18 months by court decision remains.

The authors of the initiative believe that such changes will prevent the closure of high-profile criminal proceedings on formal grounds and make investigations more effective.

Ukraine may gain access to the EU single market and other privileges even before full membership, but only on condition of real progress in the rule of law.

Currently, only the cards of bills No. 15334 and No. 15335 are published on the Verkhovna Rada website. Explanatory notes, comparative tables, and other accompanying documents are absent at the time of publication. The provided information is based on public statements by the author of the legislative initiative regarding the content of the proposed changes. "Judicial-Legal Newspaper" will monitor the further progress of the bills and their official publication.

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