The Office of the Ukrainian President has reacted to the ruling by decision of the District Administrative Court of Kyiv (OASK) to delete from the Unified State Register data on Artem Sytnyk as Director of the National Anti-corruption Agency.
"Today's reports about the OASK ruling on the claim against the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine sparked certain public concerns and became the basis for obvious speculation. Based on the NABU's response to such reports, we state that the judgment cannot be considered final and that it will be appealed. Taking into account the response by Minister of Justice of Ukraine Denys Maliuska, we state that NABU was and remains a fully functioning law enforcement agency," reads the statement released on the Office's website.
The President's Office also recalled that legislation provides for the exclusive list of grounds for dismissing a NABU director. "This list can only be changed by the decision of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, not by that of a court," the statement says.
Read alsoG7 ambassadors: Anti-corruption agencies' integrity must be protected in UkraineThe Constitutional Court recently recognized certain provisions of the NABU law as unconstitutional, so there is "an objective need to revise the provisions of the NABU law, adjusting them to take into account constitutional norms," the President's Office adds.
OASK ruling on NABU
On October 26, OASK handed down a judgment to withdraw from the Unified State Register the data on Artem Sytnyk as NABU Director.
NABU said that by this decision OSAK "legalizes full control over the agency's operations".
"The decision of the District Administrative Court of Kyiv on the activities of the National Bureau and the NABU Director is biased and absurd in a legal sense. Its real goal is to block operations of the agency, which exposed the OASK judges on large-scale abuses and an attempt to seize power," NABU noted.
Minister of Justice Denys Maliuska earlier said that his Ministry could not fulfill the court's judgment.