KIEV, October 23 (RAPSI) – President Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine has signed a number of anti-corruption laws, including one for an anti-corruption bureau designed to root out high-ranking extortionists, says a statement posted on the president’s website on Thursday.

The bureau will conduct pretrial investigations of suspected corruption cases, examine suspects for decency and identify funds and property for subsequent confiscation. The bureau will focus on the country’s top officials, including the president, ministers, judges, MPs and members of local legislatures.

Under the new law, candidates for the post of bureau director will be considered by a nine-person commission representing the Verkhovna Rada, the cabinet and the president’s executive office. The director will be appointed for seven years without the right to reappointment. The bureau will have up to 700 employees, which could be required to undergo lie detector screening as part of the hiring process.

Poroshenko urged an early adoption of an anti-corruption strategy and creation of the anti-corruption bureau to “fight the crime of corruption committed by top officials, which constitutes a threat to national security.”

The Ukrainian president also signed a law on adjusting the anti-corruption system to international standards and on creating a national anti-corruption commission, and a law on creating the groundwork for subsequent anti-corruption reforms.