Cabinet of Ministers approves NABU auditors, but does not decide when it will start

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has already approved the composition of the commission for conducting an external independent assessment of the effectiveness of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, but it is not yet known when the audit will begin. This was reported by the Cabinet of Ministers in response to a request from UNN.

The government approved the composition of the commission on September 3. It will be conducted by international experts:

-        Arpo Martin is a lawyer, former deputy director general of the Estonian Internal Security Service;

-        Westbrooks Robert is a Senior Advisor at the Government Accountability Office's Center of Excellence for Auditing, and an advisor and consultant to international Supreme Audit Institutions and other accountability offices on performance, fraud, and corruption audits of USAID programs;

-        Cronje Hermione Teresa is an international anti-corruption expert, former anti-corruption specialist at the Global Anti-Corruption Action Network (GlobE Network).

"The criteria and methods for evaluating the effectiveness of the NABU are approved and published by the commission. The members of the commission act independently and should not fulfill orders or instructions given by any person," the CMU emphasized.

At the same time, the Cabinet of Ministers did not say when the NABU audit would begin.

Context

The NABU is preparing for its first international independent audit under Director Semen Kryvonos. The head of the bureau recently statedthat he is "very much looking forward" to the audit, which should reveal both the strengths and weaknesses of the bureau.

It should be noted that the first audit is conducted one year after the appointment of the Bureau's director. However, the current head, Semen Kryvonos, has been in charge of the Bureau since March 6, 2023, which is almost a year and a half.

Add

Recently, there have been frequent statements about the loss of independence of anti-corruption bodies in Ukraine. In particular, this was stated by the recently dismissed first deputy director of the bureau, Gizo Uglava. He has repeatedly hinted that decisions at the NABU are made under the influence of external factors rather than on the basis of the law. Among the individuals and institutions that he believed exerted this pressure were activists of the Anti-Corruption Action Center (AntAC) and the head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Anti-Corruption Policy, who, as Uglava noted, used to work at the AntAC.

Uglava has repeatedly emphasized that the actions against him indicate serious problems in the NABU investigation process, which is focused on achieving external goals rather than establishing the truth.

The situation with Uglava, who was dismissed after allegations of NABU's problems, may have a significant impact on the upcoming international audit of NABU. Uhla's allegations of pressure, corruption schemes, and possible manipulation within NABU may increase the attention of auditors to the bureau's internal problems and encourage them to scrutinize internal procedures, control systems, and reporting.

Earlier , UNN mentioned that, according to auditors, the NABU staff is in a depressed state, needs psychologists and most of the employees plan to resign in the near future.

At the same time, the NABU does not have the trust of Ukrainians, and the economic effect of their activities is zero. After all, over the years, tens of billions of hryvnias have been spent from the budget on NABU, SAPO, NAPC, and HACC.

The reason for the lack of trust in anti-corruption activists may be loud accusations of top officials by the NABU, which eventually result in acquittals. An example is the case of former Minister Volodymyr Omelyan. He was accused of budget losses due to the reduction of port fees that he introduced. But in court, all the arguments of SAPO detectives and prosecutors were shattered as worthless. By the way, neither the NABU detectives nor the SAPO prosecutors have ever publicly apologized to Omelyan or been punished for illegally bringing him to criminal responsibility.

A similar story may happen to former Minister Mykola Solsky, who was accused in May of misappropriating land in Sumy region in favor of ATO soldiers. This story is already eight years old, and the reasonable timeframe for the investigation has been exhausted, but detectives decided to report it only this year. Moreover, at the moment when Solsky achieved results in negotiations with the Poles on the export of agricultural products.

However, the publicly available materials indicate dubious evidence of detectives, as evidenced by the expert opinion of manipulation with the examinations in this case. They tried to "merge" one of them and annul it through the court - probably because such an examination testified to the innocence of the former minister.