Ukraine Lawmakers Move to Let President Appoint Anti-Graft Head

(Bloomberg) -- Ukraine’s parliament took the first step to allow President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to select the country’s chief anti-corruption investigator, a move that could help efforts to secure the next tranche of a $5 billion International Monetary Fund loan.

Legislators on Tuesday backed a bill that must now be sent to the Constitutional Court before it can be passed into law. That court has been locked in a battle with Zelenskiy after ruling last summer that the appointment of Artem Sytnyk as head of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau exceeded presidential powers.

The bureau, known as NABU, was created at the request of Western lenders including the IMF and the European Union to help boost transparency. Sytnyk won plaudits for his work from foreign partners and the threat to his position has jeopardized billions of dollars of aid from overseas donors.

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