One in eight NABU and SAPO cases resulted in acquittal in court - shadow report

Every eighth case brought to court by detectives of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and prosecutors of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) ends in an acquittal. Such data is contained in the Shadow Report to Chapter 23 "Justice and Fundamental Rights" of the European Commission's Report on Ukraine in 2023, prepared by a coalition of civil society organizations, UNN reports.

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The shadow report shows significant problems in the Ukrainian anti-corruption justice system. Thus, in 2024, the HACC delivered 31 guilty verdicts (40 people were convicted) and four acquittals (five people were acquitted).

The main problem in the report is the poor quality of the evidence base of NABU detectives and SAPO prosecutors, which leads to the acquittal of defendants. The report cites examples where detectives illegally collected evidence and it was not accepted in court or had no evidence at all.

The report also emphasizes a significant number of criminal proceedings by the NABU, some of which are not prioritized. Every year, the workload of the HACC  increases and, as a result, the time for consideration of cases increases. On average, the consideration of one case with a verdict is now 517 days. The maximum period reached 1684 days or almost 5 years.

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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 the 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 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 NABU detectives nor SAPO prosecutors have ever publicly apologized to Omelian or been punished for illegally bringing him to criminal responsibility.

A similar story may happen now  with former Minister Mykola Solsky, 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 fighters 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, and the reasonable investigation timeframe 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 was a politically biased body under the influence of outsiders. Read more about the scandal here.