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.

On March 4, the Commission announced the three winners of the competition for the selection of the NABU Director. Subsequently, the winner should be chosen by the Cabinet of Ministers.

According to the commission, among all the participants, Serhii Hupiak (Head of the 4-th Investigative Department of the Territorial Department of the SBI in Khmelnytskyi), Semen Kryvonos (Head of the State Inspectorate for Architecture and Urban Planning), and Roman Osypchuk (Head of the Internal Control Department of the NABU) are the worthiest of the position of the NABU Director.

Commission members Karen Greenaway and Oleksii Savchuk refused to vote for the election of the three finalists because, according to them, they did not support these candidates. However, both Ms. Greenaway and Mr. Savchuk stressed that they hoped for a reasonable approach of the Cabinet of Ministers to the choice of a worthy head of the NABU.

“The NABU Director is one of the key persons who directly influence the fight against high-profile corruption in Ukraine. The selection was thorough and quite scrupulous,” comments Kateryna Ryzhenko, Deputy Executive Director of TI Ukraine for Legal Affairs, on the competition. “All the interviews, both for integrity and competence, were really thorough and provided an opportunity to show the strengths and weaknesses of the candidates. In the final stages, several candidates proved themselves deserving of the position. So, now we hope that the Cabinet of Ministers will be as balanced in its approach and that we will find out the name of the future head of the NABU in the near future. We, for our part, will carefully monitor the activities of the new NABU Director.”

The Prime Minister will select the future Director of the NABU out of the three winners of the competition chosen by the Commission and submit him for approval of the government.

Let us remind you that a total of 21 candidates passed to the interview stages. According to the results of testing for knowledge of legislation and general abilities, 22 people were to reach the interview stage. However, after additional verification, the selection commission found that the candidate Ruslan Habrielian did not have enough leadership experience, so, he was removed from participation in the competition, and candidate Yevhenii Tenytskyi withdrew from the competition during integrity interviews.

Before the interviews, Transparency International Ukraine analyzed all the candidates who passed the testing stage and formed a list of questions to which the candidates provided their answers at the stage of integrity interviews. TI Ukraine told about the details of these interviews on Telegram.

 

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.

Serhii Naumiuk

Head of the 4th NABU Detectives Division of the NABU Main Detective Division

Since the candidate worked for a long time in the SSU and is currently mobilized as a reserve officer of the Security Service, the commission asked about the division of his loyalty between the institutions in which he works. Naumiuk replied that during his work in the NABU, employees of his unit participated in documenting corruption against SSU employees, and this did not bother either Naumiuk or his subordinates. Therefore, he believes that he showed not in words, but by deeds, that he would not turn a blind eye to corruption in any institution.

Like other candidates currently working at the NABU, Naumiuk plans to initiate an increase in the number of employees of the institution. When asked why this should be done, the candidate explained with specific examples why, in his opinion, the NABU should employ not 700 people, as now, but 1,000.

And to clarify the possible alternative options for improving the efficiency of the Bureau, in addition to increasing the staff, Naumiuk replied that this would also be a solution in the field of technical support. It is about the automation and digitalization of all internal processes, both in the investigative sphere and in relation to information security. That is why the automation of procedural activities, in particular the eCase service, is important; when it is fully implemented, it will reduce time.

When asked how exactly the candidate plans to get the necessary results for the NABU at the parliamentary level, Naumiuk said that it was simply necessary to communicate with people — both with representatives of specialized committees and with individual MPs. And Naumiuk is ready to solve the tasks of the highest level, if necessary — at the level of the president and the government.

In general, Naumiuk is convinced that the NABU should develop cooperation with all law enforcement agencies, state and management bodies. Because the fight against corruption is conducted not only by law enforcement agencies, but by the entire system, which includes legislative bodies, the Cabinet of Ministers, and local self-government bodies. “And specialized law enforcement agencies, such as the NABU, are not even a scalpel, but a tip of the scalpel, when certain problematic moments that are obvious to everyone are removed.”

The candidate’s opinion on the NABU initiating cases based on journalistic investigations is also interesting. According to him, such relations are established by law. “If there are grounds in the publications to start an investigation, we will enter them in the register and start them. But the most effective stage is the secret stage, when the persons involved do not yet know that the law enforcement officers are interested in them. If we do this from media materials, then the effect of surprise is lost.”

Experts of Transparency International Ukraine analyzed all available public information about the participants of the competition for the selection of a new NABU director and identified five candidates to whom the public has the most questions.

These are Mykhailo Burtovyi, Oleksandr Vikul, Vitalii Vlasiuk, Semen Kryvonos, and Oleksandr Rudenko.

Thus, according to the 2021 declaration, NABU detective Mykhailo Burtovyi kept USD 54,800 in cash, and his wife, who works at PrivatBank, kept USD 50,700 (in hryvnia equivalent today, it is more than UAH 3.7 mln). Moreover, in the declaration for 2022, the amount of foreign currency cash of the candidate increased by about USD 20,000, but Burtovyi did not specify the source from which he could receive such a profit.

There are also questions about Burtovyi’s family. According to YouContol, the mother of candidate Oleksandra Burtova owns more than 60 land plots in Cherkasy Oblast. And since she was a member of the Berezivka village council of the Mankivskyi district of Cherkasy Oblast, it is interesting how Oleksandra Burtova acquired this land. Moreover, according to the questionnaire, Burtovyi’s sister and brother served in the National Police in Kyiv. Therefore, it is important to understand whether there were cases during the service of Burtovyi and his relatives when they had the opportunity to influence each other’s career advancement in terms of their powers.

Oleksandr Vikul, Head of the State Interests Representation Department for Land Relations of the Vinnytsia Regional Prosecutor’s Office, noted in his 2021 declaration that he had almost EUR 48,000 in foreign currency accounts. At the same time, he wrote in the questionnaire that the source of these funds had no connection with his work in the prosecutor’s office, but he didn’t indicate any other source of funds, except for wages, in the declaration.

There are also questions about the real estate of Vikul: in the register of ownership of real estate, the value of his apartment is indicated at UAH 39,018, but in the declaration of the candidate for 2021, this same apartment is estimated at UAH 100,000.

The candidate’s views on corruption in general are also interesting. On his Facebook page, Oleksandr Vikul has a post, where he writes the following (the author’s spelling has been preserved): “Why do people abroad believe that we have corruption everywhere? It’s because we tell them about it all the time. We take the money to counter it. We expose “thousands” of dishonest people. <…> And there are very few words about the fact that there are HONEST officials in Ukraine. How can one refute the statement about the existence of corruption? — In no way!!? It is impossible to prove the absence of anything. If there is nothing, there is no proof of it.”

These statements give the impression that, according to Vikul, there is no corruption in Ukraine, but someone is “inventing” it. And therefore, it is surprising why he is applying for the post of Director of the anti-corruption body.

The head of the State Inspectorate of Architecture and Urban Planning of Ukraine, Semen Kryvonos, won the competition for the position of director of the Odesa Territorial Department of the NABU in 2021, but refused the position and returned to work in the customs. Back then, the candidate explained his refusal from the post by his unwillingness to engage in a polemic with journalists of Slidstvo.Info, who published an investigation into him. Thus, according to journalists, with a small income, Kryvonos and his wife managed to become owners of seven and a half hectares of land, as well as a house and apartment with an area of 80 sq.m. near Kyiv. Since the investigation, Kryvonos acquired another 10 land plots, so, the potential director of the NABU will have to explain the origin of this property.

The head of the “RO LEX” lawyer association Oleksandr Rudenko notes in his declaration that since 2002, he has an apartment in free use, the owner of which is Khamster Club LLC. In addition, the date of registration of the company is a year later than the candidate began to use the specified housing, given the information in his declaration.

Rudenko also notes that he has USD 70,000 and EUR 30,000 in cash. For the whole of last year, neither the applicant for the post of the NABU Director nor members of his family had any income. A logical question arises: can the candidate confirm the legality of the origin of his declared savings.

In addition, there is one interesting detail: Oleksandr Rudenko caused an accident (for which he received a fine of UAH 850) on a car that he had not declared. Neither did he mention that he was in a contractual relationship on the provision of legal assistance with the political parties “Third force” and “Ukrainians together” from 2018 to 2020.

Candidate Vitalii Vlasiuk will have to explain whether he combined his work as deputy head of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration with doing business in LLCs that provide legal services — EPravo, Magnum Partners. And also explain whether he participates in the work of these enterprises, and if so, how.

From 2017 to 2020, Vlasiuk held the position of Deputy Chair of the ARMA Public Council. It was during this period that Anton Yanchuk was the head of the Agency, who was recently served with charges of abuse of power and embezzlement of more than UAH 426 mln. In addition, Vlasiuk is the head of the Asset Tracing and Recovery Association. Among the founders of this organization is Volodymyr Pavlenko, ex-deputy of Vitalii Syhydyna, ex-head of the ARMA. Vlasiuk himself in his social networks has repeatedly criticized the activities of the ARMA.

He also had misunderstandings with the NACP. When the candidate worked as a lawyer, he represented the Altayur company, which provided servers for placing information from the register of electronic declarations. The cost of the rent was higher than the cost of the leased equipment itself. Therefore, the NABU is investigating a possible collusion of the ex-leadership of the NACP and the Altayur company. So, the questions arise, what the candidate’s perspective regarding electronic declaration is, and what his position on the episode with “Altayur” is. In general, it is unclear how he, as the probable head of the NABU, plans to establish cooperation with anti-corruption institutions, the work of which he has repeatedly criticized.

In addition, the twin brother of the candidate Vladyslav is currently an advisor to the head of the Presidential Office. The future Director of the NABU will investigate high-profile corruption, and among the defendants may well be officials of the PO. How, in this case, Vitalii Vlasiuk will be able to maintain objectivity is a good question.

We hope that during the integrity interviews, the participants of the competition will be able to give comprehensive answers to the above questions.

Learn more about the property, connections, and reputation of candidates from our material.

Let us remind you that integrity interviews with candidates for the position of the NABU Director will be conducted on February 20–24. When communicating with the participants of the competition, the commission will consider the compliance of the income of candidates with their expenses and property, the lifestyle of the participants of the competition, the level of their professional ethics, political neutrality, and other possible violations of integrity.

In total, 21 candidates passed to the final stage of selection. According to the results of testing for knowledge of legislation and general abilities, 22 people had to pass to the interview stage, but after additional verification, the selection commission found that Ruslan Habrielian did not have enough leadership experience, so, he was not allowed to participate further in the competition.

 

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.

The competition for the selection of the NABU Director reaches its final stage — interviews on the integrity and competence of candidates. On February 20, the first applicants for this important position will come to talk with the selection commission. 

Experts of Transparency International Ukraine analyzed all available public information about the participants of the competition and formed their questions to them.

Why is this competition so important to us?

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau is one of the most important elements of the anti-corruption system of Ukraine.

That is why the competition for the election of a new director of the NABU has become the most popular topic for the media and the authorities.

That is why, in its conditions for providing financial assistance to Ukraine, the EU mentions this extremely important selection. The election of a professional and honest director is a condition for the beginning of negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the European Union.

In total, 21 candidates passed to the final stage of selection. According to the results of testing for knowledge of legislation and general abilities, 22 people had to pass to the interview stage, but after additional verification, the selection commission found that Ruslan Habrielian did not have enough leadership experience, so, he was not allowed to participate further in the competition.

On February 13, the Commission approved the schedules of the final stages of the competition — interviews for integrity and competence. Thus, during the integrity interviews, the commission will consider the compliance of candidates’ income with their expenses and property, the lifestyle of the candidates, the level of their professional ethics, political neutrality and other possible violations of integrity.

Transparency International Ukraine has analyzed all available information about candidates for the position of the NABU Director.

Traditionally, our experts tried to fully investigate the data that could indicate the level of integrity of the applicants, but this year, it has been much more difficult to conduct such an analysis. Since access to the register of electronic declarations is limited, the basis of our verification was the information that is publicly available and the documents published by the selection commission.

Unfortunately, these data may not fully reflect the picture of the property status of candidates, but they provide an opportunity to formulate questions for the selection commission and we hope to get a fuller picture of the candidates’ compliance with the requirements during the interviews.

UPD. The Commission extended the acceptance of documents for another two weeks. That is, everyone interested in applying for the NABU Head position can send documents up to December 20 inclusively.

On November 16, the reception of documents in the competition for the election of the head of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau began. 

Candidates will have three weeks (21 days) from the announcement to collect and send the required documents. After that, the commission will determine whom to admit to it.

The main stages of the competition: testing for knowledge of legislation and general abilities, practical tasks and interviews — for compliance with the criteria of integrity and competence. As a result, the commission will select three candidates and present them to the Prime Minister.

“Transparency International Ukraine expects the commission to find a professional, apolitical, and honest leader for the NABU in an adequate timeframe. For its part, the organization will monitor the progress so that dishonest candidates do not get into the position, and the competition itself takes place without violations. After all, dubious results are easy to contest, but we are interested in electing a worthy head of the National Bureau,”— said Kateryna Ryzhenko, Deputy Executive Director for Legal Affairs of Transparency International Ukraine.

The NABU Director is an important position not only for the anti-corruption system, but also for Ukraine in general. It is the NABU Director who organizes and manages the work of detectives. The director is responsible for the work of the Bureau, in particular, for the monitoring of the legality of operational and investigative activities, pre-trial investigation, as well as the observance of rights and freedoms of persons. The NABU Director also approves the plans of the National Bureau: prospective, current, and operational. 

Therefore, the NABU requires an independent and qualified director who fully complies with the requirements of the legislation for a high-quality work. Otherwise, the effectiveness of the entire anti-corruption system will be threatened.

The greatest risk of the competition is its delaying. Currently, we have no reason to be alarmed that this risk is real because the commission is moving rather quickly: only in the past 3 weeks, it approved the regulations and methodology, elected the chair of the commission, and voted for the announcement of the start of the competition. However, until the competition has officially started, and commission members have not yet started working directly with candidates, we cannot claim that such a risk is absent. 

The precedent with the SAPO competition shows that if it plays into the hands of the commission, it is possible to delay the competition even on the most absurd grounds. However, now there is every reason to believe that the members of the selection commission understand the importance of prompt completion of the competitive selection and compliance with Ukraine’s obligations to the EU.

At the same time, there are objective risks for the delay — fan power outages and unstable internet. The unvoted infamous “Klochko’s” draft law No. 7654 also poses a threat. It potentially undermines the political independence of the NABU Director by changing the requirements for candidates. If MPs vote “in favor,” all the results of the selection commission will be considered useless.

Let us remind you that the chair of the Commission is Mykola Kucheriavenko, his deputy is Karen Greenaway, and his secretary is Oleksii Savchuk. The competition for the position of the NABU Director had begun before the full-scale war, after February 24 it was suspended, resuming its activities in August.

The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed the discriminatory law No.8003, which introduces new requirements for the director of the Anti-Corruption Bureau. On 7 September, MPs adopted it as a basis and in general. 

This initiative of MPs, although a better substitute for the controversial “Klochko’s draft law,” is more harmful than useful. This law prohibits the lawyers who, after the start of the full-scale invasion, went abroad for personal reasons and stayed there for more than three weeks from participating in the competition for the NABU Director. 

The exception concerns those citizens who left for treatment due to wounds, concussions, diseases related to military service, or on a business trip in the interests of national security and defense.

Transparency International Ukraine stressed that such restrictions artificially narrow the number of willing candidates — mostly women — and urged the President to use the veto. 

However, the law has now officially entered into force. Therefore, the initiative will mainly affect female lawyers (possibility for conscription-age men to exit Ukraine is limited), which is a kind of discrimination, in particular, gender-based. As a result, female lawyers can contest this provision of law in the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.  

On September 7, MPs adopted the draft law on requirements to the director of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (No. 8003) as a basis and in general. 285 MPs voted “in favor.” This draft law replaces the controversial “Klochko’s draft law,” which added new requirements for some heads of anti-corruption bodies, as well as grounds for their dismissal. 

After the public and international partners criticized the draft law, MPs David Arakhamia, Oleksandr Kornienko, Anastasiia Radina, and Oleksandra Ustinova registered a new draft law. They propose to prohibit lawyers who, after February 24, 2022, went abroad for personal reasons and stayed there for more than 21 days from participating in the competition for the NABU Director. Another question is why such a limitation applies exceptionally to the NABU.

Although this draft law looks more balanced in comparison with Klochko’s draft law, such restrictions in advance artificially narrow the number of the candidates willing to apply. After all, in this case, for example, women who evacuated children abroad and may have already returned will not be able to apply. 

The exception concerns those citizens who left for treatment due to wounds, concussions, diseases related to military service, or on a business trip in the interests of national security and defense.

Considering that men of conscription age are banned from leaving the country (except for the above-mentioned reason), this initiative will mainly affect female lawyers, which can be considered gender discrimination. 

For a successful process of election of a truly worthy candidate for the position of the NABU director, strong competition and equal access for all professionals are necessary. In TI Ukraine’s opinion, this law narrows the circle of potential candidates without critical grounds. We urge the President of Ukraine to veto this law.

 

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On January 26, 2022, the government made a decision which obliged the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Economy to submit proposals to the Cabinet of Ministers by February 1 to determine three persons for the Commission on Election of the Director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau.

Representatives from international partners delegated to the commission are: Karen Greenaway, Drago Kos, and Povilas Malakauskas.

In general, the commission should include:

• three persons delegated by the Cabinet of Ministers itself;
• the other three, which the Cabinet determines based on the proposals of international partners.

The members of the Commission must possess high professional and moral qualities and have at least five years of experience in the field of law enforcement or anti-corruption.

We hope that the procedure for electing the head of the NABU will neither be delayed, as in the case of the SAPO and the ARMA competitions, nor biased.