NABU continues to finance “friendly” forensic experts - NACP ignores conflict of interest

The detectives of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine continue to order forensic examinations from their colleagues and friends. The next forensic economic examination for anti-corruption activists will be conducted by the Expert Group "ES&D" LLC, UNN reports.

Details

The tender for forensic economic expertise for the NABU was again, oddly enough, won by the Expert Institution ES&D LLC. The bureau will pay the company more than UAH 35 thousand for this service.

According to publicly available information, the Expert Institution "ES&DI" LLC does nothing else but conduct examinations for the NABU. Since 2018, this company has won tenders for expert examinations for anti-corruption activists totaling more than UAH 2.2 million.

This is not surprising, since the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption records a conflict of interest in NABU regarding this company. After all, forensic examinations are ordered by Senior Detective Viktor Yarema, and performed by the daughter of his former colleague from the Rivne Prosecutor's Office, who is registered as an LLC "ES&D".

But despite the record, the NACP refrains from checking conflicts of interest and "turns a blind eye" to such investigations by NABU detectives.

Add

Manipulation of examinations is a common practice for NABU, but it often plays against the detectives themselves. For example, as was the case with the examinations in the cases of Rotterdam+ and former Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan. According to lawyer Iryna Odynets, NABU lost in court because during the investigation, detectives in these cases "drew" forensic examinations in friendly private offices, and then unsuccessfully tried to confirm their accusations. Volodymyr Omelyan himself also noted that detectives engaged "dubious experts" during the investigation of the case against him.

In addition, the NABU tried to leak the expert examination in the case against former Minister of Agrarian Policy Mykola Solsky, which they themselves had ordered and which was obviously supposed to testify to his innocence.

Given the repeated facts of detectives manipulating forensic examinations, the idea of NABU head Semen Kryvonos to create his own expert institution for the bureau looks extremely alarming. It was also criticized by the legal community, because in this case, the number of "painted" examinations may increase many times over, which may lead to manipulation of the evidence base and jeopardize the objectivity of justice.

In addition, practice shows that anti-corruption agencies created by "one idea" turn a blind eye to each other's violations. For example, the former Deputy Head of the Presidential Office, Andriy Smirnov, recently stated that some NABU detectives and SAPO prosecutors had acquired luxury assets that were registered in their mothers' names. At the same time, the NACP did not check either NABU detectives or SAPO prosecutors, arguing that the information provided by Smirnov "does not contain factual data that could be verified within the rights and powers" of the agency.