On November 18, 2024, the External Independent Evaluation Commission approved the criteria and methodology for conducting the first-ever performance audit of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine.
The methodology specifies the evaluation timeframe: the audit will cover the period from March 6, 2023, to November 18, 2024. The commission also decided on the subject of the assessment: the performance of the NABU will be studied in five key areas:
- detection and investigation of high-level corruption,
- integrity, accountability, and transparency,
- leadership, strategy, and resource management,
- interagency coordination,
- international cooperation.
According to the results of the evaluation, the NABU may be granted one of four levels of efficiency: high, substantial, moderate, or low. Provided that at least one of the two key performance indicators is assigned a low score (0 points) due to failure to perform duties or abuse of discretionary powers by the Director of NABU, the activities of NABU will be recognized as ineffective and the Director will be subject to dismissal.
The commission will have access to the materials of completed criminal proceedings and will be able to conduct interviews with employees of the NABU, the SAPO, and other public authorities. The final report will be published on the website of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and heard in the Verkhovna Rada.
“We at TI Ukraine have long emphasized the need to conduct an audit of the NABU, as it is enshrined in the specialized law on the operation of the Bureau. Finally, both the body itself and its current director will fall under the mechanism of external control, which can contribute to improving the operation of the NABU,” explains Kateryna Ryzhenko, Deputy Executive Director at Transparency International Ukraine.
The European Commission also drew attention to the need to implement the recommendations of the external independent audit of the NABU in the EU enlargement report on Ukraine as a candidate country for 2024. Completing this audit and publishing the report with the results are structural beacons of Ukraine until February 2025 under the memorandum with the IMF.
Both the body itself and its current director will fall under the mechanism of external control, which can contribute to improving the operation of the NABU
Kateryna Ryzhenko
