Zelensky on SAPO chief appointment: Appropriate person has been chosen, commission has final say

The head of state addressed the issue in a video address to the nation on Sunday.

"I’d like everyone on whom the extremely sensitive issue of appointing a new head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office depends to hear me out. My position as President of Ukraine is that the competition that has taken place must lead to a completely logical decision on the appointment of a new head. The right person has been chosen, and the finalization of this decision depends on the selection commission," the president emphasized.

According to the President, without a SAPO chief, the agency’s full functioning is impossible.

"By the way, the same applies to the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine. The term of office of the previous head has expired. And a competitive procedure for the selection of a new NABU head should take place. I instructed the Prime Minister of Ukraine to speed up the process of launching the corresponding competition," the head of state emphasized.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on December 21, 2021, the commission to select the leadership of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office announced the ranking of the candidates for the position of the agency’s head and deputy, as well as the head of the fifth department, based on competition results. According to the ranking, Oleksandr Klymenko, Detective of the National Anti-corruption Bureau, scored most among the candidates for the position SAPO head (246 points). At the same time, the commission members failed to officially approve the competition result.

On July 13, the head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine, Matti Maasikas, said that the appointment of the head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) is technically the easiest of the EU's recommendations to accomplish, and that Brussels is waiting for the next steps of the Ukrainian authorities on the issue.

Photo: Ukrainian President’s Office