International anti-corruption expert hints at NABU's bias

Ukraine's fight against corruption is under close scrutiny by the public and international experts. Anti-corruption expert Drago Kos expressed concern that NGOs may have undue influence on the work of state anti-corruption bodies, in particular NABU, UNN reports.

In his opinion, civil society, which has long been a driver of anti-corruption initiatives, has begun to influence appointments in these bodies. The expert hinted that support for certain candidates for key positions, who are considered "friendly" by civil society organizations, could lead to the NABU being controlled, which undermines the bureau's independence and its ability to effectively fight corruption.

He also pointed to the risks of confidential information leaking into the hands of civil society organizations.

"Very quickly, both the new head of the SAPO and the new director of the NABU fell under their (the CSO's - ed.) influence and became their 'friends' - probably believing that passing information to civil society or meeting with certain members of the public to discuss highly confidential issues 'off the record' was better than being the subject of harsh criticism. The NGO gladly accepted the two new "friends" without taking into account their level of competence, which any impartial investigator would quickly identify as questionable or even corrupt," Kos said.

According to the anti-corruption expert, the loss of independence of anti-corruption bodies and the incompetence of their leaders may indicate "the beginning of the end of the real fight against corruption in Ukraine.

"True anti-corruption fighters remain loyal to the fight against corruption, while politicians, officials, diplomats and, perhaps, some NGOs do not," Drago Kos said.

The expert called for preserving the independence of anti-corruption bodies in Ukraine and their exemption from external influence to ensure effective and transparent fight against corruption.

"Until it (civil society - ed.) recognizes that the independence of the NACP, NABU, SAPO and HACC is crucial, there can be no effective fight against corruption by these agencies. Many agencies are important elements of the fight against corruption in most other countries; if they were not, they would not need to have police forces, prosecutors and courts. All they would need is something like the AntAC. What a paradox - at the very moment when the country needed to fight corruption as effectively as possible, given the largest ever expenditure of international aid, these efforts will be destroyed by the very people who beat their chests the loudest about how honest they are!" - Kos believes.

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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 believes 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 for 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, which is expected to soon assess the bureau's efficiency and transparency. The Head'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 has no 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 on NABU, SAPO, NAPC, and HACC from the budget.

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

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