NABU may be allowed to tap phone calls – Sytnyk

12:52, 30.03.2016 1 min read

Director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) Artem Sytnyk says that a bill will be soon tabled in parliament to authorize the agency to conduct wiretaps and use wiretapping equipment.

"Under the Criminal Procedure Code, only security agencies and the police have the right to conduct wiretaps. We are able to collect information from telecoms channels, but with the involvement of Ukraine's State Security Service (SBU). We are required first to obtain a court warrant. In the future we'll need to obtain powers for collecting information on our own. The SBU initially wanted to write down information for us and provide it to us on a CD for our perusal," he said in an interview with Gazeta.ua, which was published on Tuesday.

"The bill will be tabled soon, but whether it will be passed depends on lawmakers," he said.

Sytnyk did not elaborate on whether President Petro Poroshenko supports the idea of allowing the NABU to tap talks on its own.

"I've seen a draft memorandum between Ukraine and the International Monetary Fund. It foresees a clause allowing the National Anti-Corruption Bureau to conduct wiretap independently," he added.