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| Agency overview | |
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| Formed | 22 September 2015[1] |
| Jurisdiction |  Ukrainegovernment |
| Agency executive |
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| Parent agency | Prosecutor General of Ukraine Verkhovna Rada (parliament oversight) |
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| Ukraine portal |
TheSpecialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (Ukrainian:Спеціалізована антикорупційна прокуратура,romanized: Specializovana antykorupcijna prokuratura,abbr. САП,SAP orSAPO) is an independent structural unit of theProsecutor General of Ukraine, and is primarily responsible for supporting and overseeing criminal investigations launched by theNational Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU).
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The office is legally empowered with: supervision over observance of laws during conducting of operational search activity of pre-trial investigation by the NABU; the maintenance of state prosecution in relevant proceedings; and the representation of the interests of a citizen or state in court in cases provided for by law and related to corruption or corruption-related offenses. In contrast to SAPO and NABU, theNational Agency on Corruption Prevention aims at preventing corruption by creating an environment that discourages corruption and by proposing legislation.
The prospect of visa liberalization (visa-free travel to theSchengen Area) betweenUkraine and theEuropean Union was closely linked with the process of creating the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office.[citation needed]
The first head of SAPO, ProsecutorNazar Kholodnytskyi, was appointed in December 2015.[2] On 26 May 2020Prosecutor General of UkraineIryna Venediktova accused him and his fellow anti-corruption prosecutors (in a video message) of "improper performance of official duties" and failing cases against current MP's.[3] Kholodnytsky resigned on 21 August 2020. In his resignation letter, he claimed that the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office had "systematically faced political attempts to encroach on our independence and manipulate the results of our work."[4]
A commission carried out an open procedure of vetting candidates for the new head and deputy of SAPO in 2021. Out of 37 candidates, only two passed the initial vetting.[5]Oleksandr Klymenko was the clear winner, with 246 points, as assessed in a meeting by the commission on 21 December 2021. Andrii Syniuk was second, with 229 points.[6] On 19 July 2022, the commission formally voted and announced Klymenko as the winner, with Syniuk winning the position of deputy head of SAPO. The formal appointments were to be made by the Prosecutor General's Office.[7][8] Appointing the head of SAPO was listed by the European Union (EU) as one of the conditions forUkraine to retain candidate EU membership status.[9] Klymenko was formally appointed on 28 July 2022 by newly electedProsecutor General of UkraineAndriy Kostin.[10]
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