STRENGTHENING THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE SPECIALIZED ANTI-CORRUPTION PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE IN UKRAINE: CURRENT TRENDS

The article highlights some current trends in strengthening the independence of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office in Ukraine. It is stated that one of the main current challenges that necessitate further reform of its legal status is the international obligations assumed by Ukraine to further strengthen the fight against corruption as a prerequisite for its European integration. The purpose of the article is to identify the current trends in reforming the legal status of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office with a view to strengthening its independence, and the prerequisites which determine them, and to present the author’s own vision of their further development. It is established that the current trends in reforming the legal status of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office include: its institutional positioning as one of the elements of the system of anti-corruption bodies in Ukraine, outside the unified system of prosecution bodies; weakening of the role of prosecutor’s self-government bodies in the process of forming its personal staff in favor of expanding the powers of the Prosecutor General; establishing of a separate body to conduct disciplinary proceedings against prosecutors of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office; vesting significant powers in the procedures for forming its staff, the staff of the commission for external independent assessment (audit) of the effectiveness of its activities, formation of the staff of the Specialized Disciplinary Commission of Prosecutors of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office with representatives of international and foreign organizations that provide Ukraine with international technical assistance in the field of preventing and combating corruption in accordance with international or interstate agreements. The perspective directions of development of the outlined processes are singled out: the expediency of regulating legal certainty in the issue of positioning of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office in the system of Public Prosecutor’s Office in Ukraine, taking into account the principle of its unity; the expediency of regulating compensatory mechanisms to overcome possible gaps in legislation in case of failure of representatives of international and foreign organizations to comply with the requirements of national legislation; inexpediency of establishing a separate body which will carry out disciplinary proceedings against prosecutors of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, given the risks of weakening the authority and credibility of the Qualification and Disciplinary Commission of Public Prosecutors, violating the principles of equality and justice in relation to other prosecutors who are subject to the jurisdiction of this body of prosecutor’s governance.