International audit of NABU: expert doubts real changes and improvement of the bureau's work

There are serious doubts about the results of the international audit of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, which is due to begin in the near future. The auditors are likely to pretend that there are no serious problems in the activities of anti-corruption officials, focusing on formal shortcomings, but will not address key issues of the effectiveness of the fight against corruption. This opinion was expressed in an exclusive commentary to UNN by Oleh Shram, a lawyer and former advisor to the director of the State Bureau of Investigation.

"Given what is happening around this audit, they are likely to check only the last period of NABU's activity - a year or six months, no more. Although they should have checked since 2015. I doubt that they will find any shortcomings that the public actually knows about, and the auditors will record these shortcomings. Most likely, they will pretend that everything was fine there and that it is a successful reform and a successful body," he said.

According to him, the auditors in their report are likely to point out only some formal shortcomings in the work of the NABU, but not the main ones or the key ones related to the effectiveness of this body.

"If there was a proper audit, if it was really an audit and it was conducted by independent and professional persons, their only conclusion would be that this body should be liquidated," Shram said.

The expert added that the results of the upcoming audit are not likely to affect the NABU's reputation, as it has been "lost since the first years of the bureau's activity, and this audit alone cannot save the reputation of the body.

"The question is whether this body is able to counteract corruption crimes and influence the level of corruption in the country. And society has probably seen that it cannot do this. And it has seen this not today or yesterday, but over the 8 years of its activity. And the audit alone cannot improve the reputation of this body. The reputation must be improved by its daily and effective work," said Shram, a former advisor to the SBI director.

Context

The NABU is preparing for the first international independent audit under the leadership of Director Semen Kryvonos. Foreign partners have already submitted proposals to the Cabinet of Ministers on who should be part of the commission that will conduct the audit .

NABU Director Semen Kryvonos himself recently statedthat he was "very much looking forward" to the start of the audit, which should reveal both the strengths and weaknesses of the bureau.

It should be noted that the first audit is conducted one year after the appointment of the Bureau's director. However, the current head, Semen Kryvonos, has been in charge of the Bureau since March 6, 2023, which is almost a year and a half.

Add

Recently, there have been frequent statements about the loss of independence of anti-corruption bodies in Ukraine. In particular, this was stated by the recently dismissed first deputy director of the bureau, Gizo Uglava. He has repeatedly hinted that decisions at the NABU are made under the influence of external factors rather than on the basis of the law. Among the individuals and institutions that he believes exerted this pressure were activists of the Anti-Corruption Action Center (AntAC) and the head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Anti-Corruption Policy, who, as Uglava noted, used to work at the AntAC.

Uglava has repeatedly emphasized that the actions against him indicate serious problems in the NABU investigation process, which is focused on achieving external goals rather than establishing the truth.

The situation with Uglava, who was dismissed after allegations of NABU's problems, may have a significant impact on future international audits of NABU. Uhla's statements about pressure, corruption schemes, and possible manipulation within NABU may increase the attention of auditors to the bureau's internal problems and encourage them to scrutinize internal procedures, control systems, and reporting.

Earlier, UNN mentioned that, according to auditors, the NABU staff is in a depressed state, needs psychologists and most of the employees plan to resign in the near future.

At the same time, the NABU does not have the trust of Ukrainians, and the economic effect of their activities is zero. After all, over the years, tens of billions of hryvnias have been spent from the budget on NABU, SAPO, NAPC, and HACC.

The reason for the lack of trust in anti-corruption activists may be loud accusations of top officials by the NABU, which eventually result in acquittals. An example is the case of former Minister Volodymyr Omelyan. He was accused of budget losses due to the reduction of port fees that he introduced. But in court, all the arguments of SAPO detectives and prosecutors were shattered as worthless. By the way, neither the NABU detectives nor the SAPO prosecutors have ever publicly apologized to Omelyan or been punished for illegally bringing him to criminal responsibility.

A similar story could happen to former Minister Mykola Solsky, who was accused in May of misappropriating land in Sumy region in favor of ATO soldiers. This story is already eight years old, the reasonable investigation timeframe has been exhausted, but detectives decided to report it only this year. Moreover, at the moment when Solsky achieved results in negotiations with the Poles on the export of agricultural products.

However, the publicly available materials indicate dubious evidence of detectives, as evidenced by the expert opinion of manipulation with the examinations in this case. They tried to "leak" one of them and annul it through the court - probably because such an examination testified to the innocence of the former minister.