Ukraine's Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko will be unable to control the activity of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO), the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) chief Artem Sytnyk has said.

"Future scenarios [after the possible sacking of SAPO chief Nazar Kholodnytsky]? Lutsenko will be unable to take control over SAPO, because the lacks the authority. SAPO has two deputy heads. The first deputy head during the competition to fill the vacancy will be in charge. I don't see any problems with this," Sytnyk said in an interview with the Kyiv-based Dzerkalo Tyzhnia newspaper.

Sytnyk said prosecutorial review of any case would be handled by SAPO agents, who he said "are prepared to work normally."

"Now the wording of the Criminal Procedure Code is such that the Prosecutor General's Office's (PGO) official grants of authority over any case are small. The most important person is the person handling the case. The only authority the PGO has during the period of the competition to find a new SAPO head is to appoint a specific prosecutor from SAPO prosecutors in specific criminal cases. The prosecutor general cannot order formal administrative action. All other decisions on the case are taken by the appointed prosecutor," Sytnyk said.