Foreign auditors of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) will conduct an audit of the effectiveness of the bureau's work only for the period from March 6, 2023 to November 18, 2024, that is, only for the time when it is headed by the current director Semyon Kryvonos. Thus, all violations in the work of anti-corruption officers that were committed before 2023 are ignored, writes UNN.
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On October 3, NABU finally launched its first external independent audit .Recently, the auditors, after criticism from the public, finally approved the criteria and methodology for evaluating the effectiveness of the bureau's work .
"Approve the period that will cover the assessment (audit) of the effectiveness of NABU's activities, from the date of appointment of the current director of NABU to the date of approval by the Commission of the criteria and methodology for evaluating the effectiveness of NABU, namely from March 6, 2023 to November 18, 2024," the auditors determined at their meeting.https://www.kmu.gov.ua/storage/app/sites/1/otsinka_nabu/18112024-meeting-minutes-2-protokol-zasidannia-2.pdf.
Thus, the first audit at the NABU will leave out a huge period of time from the beginning of the creation of this body, when it was headed by Artem Sytnyk and his first deputy Gizo Uglava, who is now accused of "leaking" information from the bureau and putting pressure on whistleblowers.
How many more violations could have been committed during the time that the audit will not cover is anyone's guess, but it is obvious that limiting the audit only in recent years raises questions about its completeness and objectivity. Ignoring the period when NABU was headed by previous managers creates the risk of concealing systemic problems and abuses that could affect the reputation and effectiveness of the bureau.
The audit, which would cover the entire period of NABU's activity from the moment of its creation, would provide a more comprehensive and transparent assessment of the body's work, as well as allow identifying all possible violations and problems, regardless of when they occurred. After all, a selective approach to verification calls into question the real goals and results of this initiative.
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Recently, the public has accumulated a lot of questions about the work of detectives NABU. In particular, there are often statements about the loss of independence of anti-corruption bodies in Ukraine. This was also stated by the recently dismissed first deputy director of the Bureau Gizo Uglava. He has repeatedly hinted that decisions in the NABU are made under the influence of external factors, and not on the basis of the law. Activists of the Anti-Corruption Center (CPC) and the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on anti-corruption policy, who, as Uglava noted, previously worked in the CPC, were named among the individuals and institutions that, in his opinion, exerted this pressure.
Uglova stressedthat the actions against him indicate serious problems in the NABU investigation process , which are focused on achieving external goals, and not on establishing the truth.
The same opinion is supported by lawyers, who also stated that the real goal of anti-corruption activists has turned from fighting corruption to putting pressure on certain civil servants to achieve "external" goals.
In addition, human rights activists are sounding the alarm due to systematic violations by NABU detectives and SAPO prosecutors of the presumption of innocence.
This was recorded, in particular, in the shadow report to Section 23 "Justice and fundamental rights" of the European Commission's report on Ukraine for 2023, prepared by the coalition of public organizations. According to the document, in a number of court cases, judges recorded violations of the principle of presumption of innocence on the part of NABU detectives, who in public comments and interviews actually "appointed" the defendants guilty.
Often, high-profile accusations of top officials by the NABU end in acquittals. An example is the case of ex-minister Vladimir Omelyan. He was accused of budget losses due to the reduction of port charges that he introduced. But in court, all the arguments of Sapo detectives and prosecutors were smashed to smithereens as insignificant. By the way, neither NABU detectives nor SAPO prosecutors suffered any public apologies to Omelyan and punishment for illegally bringing him to criminal responsibility.
A similar story may repeat itself with ex-minister Mykola Solsky, who in May was accused of embezzling Land in the Sumy region in favor of the ATO fighters. This story is already eight years old, and the reasonable time frame of the investigation has been exhausted, but detectives decided to report it only this year. In addition, at the moment when Solsky achieved results in negotiations with the poles on unblocking the border.
However, the publicly available materials indicate dubious evidence of Detectives, which was evidenced by the expert opinion of manipulation of expert examinations in this case. They tried to" merge " one of them and annul it through the court - presumably due to the fact that such an examination testified to the innocence of the ex-minister.