Serhii Pun: It is impossible to deprive SBU of law enforcement functions and pre-trial investigation without amendments to Constitution

Without amendments to the Ukrainian Constitution it is impossible to deprive the SBU of law enforcement and pre-trial investigation functions at this stage of the reform. This was stated in the air of a television channel by Deputy Head of the SBU Reformation Serhii Pun.

“As a part of the SBU draft law, we consulted with constitutionalists who, referring to the norms of the Constitution, noted that it’s impossible to completely deprive the SBU of the law enforcement and pre-trial investigation functions without constitutional amendments,” said Serhii Pun.

In his opinion, reformation of the SBU into exclusively CI body should be considered in the distant future.

He stressed that a number of factors influences on designation of the national intelligence model. Key ones: legal realities and juridical traditions in each state, security threats which it faces, and mentality. “Special service has a unique story, in the EU you will not find any 100% identical intelligence services,” he said.

At the same time, Serhii Pun emphasized that the main goal of the SBU reform remains the same – creation of a capable and effective Service and providing it with the best specialists. Moreover, the staff should be provided with proper social and legal protection. “After establishment of the new anti-corruption bodies, the Service has suffered outflow of employees, as it is currently unable to pay competitive salaries to the officers”, pointed out Serhii Pun.

It is planned to conduct digital transformation of all processes inside the Service.

We recall that the draft law on the Security Service of Ukraine was submitted by the President to the Parliament on March 10. The document contains system innovations that will allow the Ukrainian special service to turn to advance its activity.

In May, the Verkhovna Rada considered the draft law and sent it for a second reading. Currently, work on the text of the draft law is ongoing on the basis of the profile committee of the Verkhovna Rada with the involvement of expert representatives from international partners and the public sector.