The Cabinet of Ministers should determine the persons who will be included in the Selection Commission to elect the Head of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention and launch a competition for this post, which is crucial for the anti-corruption ecosystem. The delay in the formation of the commission may disrupt the deadlines provided for by law.
It also threatens the potential appointment of an interim acting head, which will affect the independence of the institution.
The mandate of the current NACP Head Oleksandr Novikov will expire in January 2024. On January 15, 2020, he was appointed to this position, so his 4-year term of office will expire in winter.
That is why an open, competitive selection needs to start urgently to elect a new head of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention. Let us note that the same person cannot hold this position for two consecutive terms.
According to the Law On Prevention of Corruption, the organization and conduct of the competitive selection should be carried out by the Selection Commission to elect the NACP Head. This commission consists of 6 persons: 3 persons determined by the Cabinet of Ministers and 3 persons determined by the government on the basis of donor proposals, who, over the past two years, have provided Ukraine with international technical assistance in the field of preventing and countering corruption.
The law also states that the Selection Commission must be formed no later than two months before the expiration of the term of office of the NACP Head. In our case, no later than mid-November 2023. According to our data, international partners have already submitted their candidacies for members of the selection commission.
Therefore, the Cabinet of Ministers needs to start working on this issue now. Moreover, although the last competition took place in the two months provided for by law, these terms were extremely short for the highest quality work, which, in particular, was publicly pointed out by the then co-chair of the Selection Commission Tilman Hoppe.
We are convinced that the Cabinet of Ministers should decide as soon as possible on the appointment of members of the new Selection Commission to elect the NACP Head at an open meeting, as provided by law. Only persons with a truly impeccable business reputation, high professional and moral qualities, public authority, as well as experience in preventing and countering corruption should be members of such a Selection Commission.
That is why Transparency International Ukraine calls on the Cabinet of Ministers to determine the list of members of the Selection Commission as soon as possible and adopt it, as well as the list of candidates who will be able to replace the members of the commission in case of early termination of their powers!
Transparency International Ukraine calls on the Cabinet of Ministers to determine the list of members of the Selection Commission as soon as possible and adopt it, as well as the list of candidates who will be able to replace the members of the commission in case of early termination of their powers!
