NABU is choking on its own cases - anti-corruption experts advise detectives to change priorities

The National Anti-Corruption Agency of Ukraine should optimize the use of its resources and focus on cases involving systemic corruption. This is stated in the report of Transparency International Ukraine on Ukraine's achievements in anti-corruption reform for the period from February 2014 to March 2024.

TI reminded that at the end of 2023, the Verkhovna Rada passed a law that increased the NABU staff from 700 to 1,000 employees, and this should happen in three waves: 100 vacancies will be opened in 2024, 2025, and 2026.

However, according to national and international experts, even increasing the NABU staff and redistributing personnel from auxiliary to main detective units will not solve the problem of workload. The NABU should optimize the use of available resources by focusing on grand corruption cases and cases involving systemic corruption.”

Anti-corruption experts believe that the NABU should develop such a prioritization policy and discuss it with competent criminal justice experts.

TI also emphasized the importance of conducting an independent external audit of the work of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine.

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The public has repeatedly drawn attention to the fact that the NABU wastes state resources and time on cases that are not critical and have a dubious judicial perspective.

For example, Kateryna Datsenko, a representative of the NABU Public Control Council (PCC) in the Personnel Commission, made a loud statement about the low efficiency of detectives in investigating corruption in the defense sector. According to her, a significant increase in the number of corruption cases in the defense sector was expected with the outbreak of a full-scale war. However, as of today, only 48 criminal proceedings are underway, in which only 7 people have been notified of suspicion.

The fact that NABU wastes time and resources on cases with dubious prospects was also emphasized by international experts who evaluated the work of detectives.

A good example is the case against former Minister of Infrastructure Volodymyr Omelyan. Almost three years were spent investigating this case, in which the HACC eventually delivered an acquittal. By the way, neither the NABU detectives nor the SAPO prosecutors have been punished for unlawfully bringing him to criminal responsibility.

A similar story may now repeat itself with former Minister Mykola Solskyi, who was publicly accused by NABU and SAPO in May of misappropriating land. The point is not that Solsky himself took possession of the land, but that he helped ATO soldiers to register land plots that, according to detectives, should have gone to other people, in particular, to be put up for auctions of the State Property Fund for the sale of land.

This story is already eight years old, the reasonable timeframe for investigation has long since expired, but detectives decided to announce suspicions this year. In the near future, they plan to interrogate almost 1,500 ATO soldiers.

At the same time, NABU has recently been involved in internal disputes with its former first deputy, Gizo Uglava, accusing him of violations in the performance of his direct duties. Uglava, in turn, claimed that NABU is a politically biased body that is under the influence of outsiders. Read more about the scandal here.