Semen Kryvonos Becomes New NABU Director

On March 6, at an extraordinary meeting, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine unanimously decided to appoint Semen Kryvonos to the post of the Director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine.

Before his appointment, Semen Kryvonos held the position of Head of the State Inspectorate for Architecture and Urban Planning.

“During the integrity interviews, the commission was very interested in the existing contacts of the new NABU Director with various government officials  — both in the Presidential Office and in the Cabinet of Ministers because all these persons are under the jurisdiction of the Bureau. For his part, at that time, candidate Kryvonos assured that all those contacts were purely related to work and would not affect his future activities in the NABU. Well, now Mr. Kryvonos is able to prove in practice his real independence and willingness to investigate corruption in all branches of government. And my colleagues and I will carefully monitor his successes,” commented Kateryna Ryzhenko, Deputy Executive Director for Legal Affairs of Transparency International Ukraine.

Let us remind you that during the integrity interview, the commission was interested in Kryvonos’ relations with various officials — Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, former head of Odesa Oblast Mikheil Saakashvili, MP Tetiana Plachkova, and former head of Kyiv Oblast, and now Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Oleksii Kuleba. The candidate replied that with Fedorov, Saakashvili, and Kuleba he had exclusively professional relations, and with Plachkova he had never had any contacts at all.

How does Semen Kryvonos plan to develop the NABU?

During the competence interview, the new director of the Bureau noted that he had worked for a long time as the deputy head of the Odesa customs, where, despite the serious resistance of the system, his team managed to achieve significant results. Later, he headed the State Inspectorate for Architecture and Urban Planning of Ukraine, where he launched automation and digitalization of processes.

And immediately after assuming the post of the NABU Director, Kryvonos plans to analyze the level of implementation of the NABU strategic plan and determine at what stage the Bureau is.

According to Kryvonos, he already has managerial experience in an “aggressive environment,” so he is able to withstand challenges. Particularly when it comes to jurisdiction. According to the candidate, under his leadership, the NABU will efficiently communicate with those bodies that violate the jurisdiction of the Bureau. And in general, in his opinion, at the legislative level, it is necessary to introduce responsibility for those law enforcement officers who commit such violations.

Kryvonos also plans to increase the number of employees of the Bureau. He stated that since many NABU employees were currently fighting at the front, the burden on the body increased. In general, to improve the effectiveness of the NABU, an increase in the number of detectives and analysts may be required.

In his work, Kryvonos will rely on the team, but also wants to maintain interaction with the SSU, NACP, the State Financial Monitoring Service, the Accounting Chamber and, of course, the SAPO.

Moreover, the new Director plans to complete the implementation of NABU’s capabilities to conduct wiretapping. Supposedly, he knows that the Bureau has already appealed to the SSU several times about this, so, he thinks that he will hold a meeting, find out what the technical or legal problem is, and, if necessary, engage international partners in solving it.

This publication was prepared with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of Transparency International Ukraine and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.