Ministers, Judges, Oligarchs: NABU's Fight Against Ukraine's Big Fish

From Gmail to eCase: NABU Fights Corruption in Ukraine

Fierce protests shook Ukraine in recent days. The reason: Citizens feared that President Zelensky could push through laws that undermine the independence of anti-corruption agencies.

On January 22, 2022, the Ukrainian National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) answered our questions about their work. The responses came from one of their Gmail addresses: Press.Nabu@gmail.com

What would you consider the most hampering aspects of corruption for the Ukrainian economy?

Corruption is a pervasive phenomenon which directly or indirectly affects all sectors of the economy. First of all, we are talking about:

• Reduction of investments in Ukraine due to investors’ unwillingness to risk their own assets;

• Pressure and inhibition of medium-sized business development

• Monopolization of certain areas (electricity, for example) by oligarchs;

• Inhibition of privatization of state-owned enterprises that operate at a loss, while officials enrich themselves through corruption schemes.

After NABU’s launch, detectives have exposed over 1.000 persons. Including: 6 ministers and their deputies, 11 heads of central executive bodies, 20 members of parliament of different convocations (current and former), 67 judges, 78 heads of state enterprises. More than 350 cases against 666 persons have been completed and sent to court.

NABUs work emphasizes a lot on the ‘big fish’, hence politicians, big companies. How crucial do you consider the problem? For example, for innovation processes of domestic firms or international investors?

Such a focus is determined by the law. NABU was set up to combat and investigate top-level corruption. Lower-level officials suspected of corruption offenses get in sight of the National Police and the SBI. NABU detectives not only expose crimes, but also prevent their commission, as well as prepare and send proposals to the government on how to eliminate corruption risks.

What strategy can your office pursue to tackle that problem? Whether on a small but also on a big scale?

Let us emphasize once again, that NABU deals with top-level corruption, not so-called “street-level corruption” or corruption in the public sector. However, we understand the importance of fostering a culture of zero tolerance for corruption in society. Therefore, NABU joins various public drives and campaigns, develops its own educational activities on the matter.

How can digitization and modern technologies help to overcome corruption in Ukraine? Which ones do you apply in your daily work or are you planning to do so?

In December 2021, we launched the eCase, an electronic criminal justice system that aims to simplify and speed up the investigation and handling of anti-corruption cases. Criminal proceedings in Ukraine are too bureaucratic, which means that too many resources are spent on investigating and considering any single case. 

According to the expert study “Together against Corruption”, digitization is one of the effective tools in the fight against corruption. 

In 2015, public authorities were ordered to publish all data on the Unified State Open Data Web Portal. Freely available information is a powerful safeguard against corruption. Therefore, NABU is always open and transparent in its activities. 

What support from international institutions, such as the World Bank, IMF, European Union and USA you receive? Is it sufficient from your point of view? What would you wish for, ideally?

Without the support of international partners, NABU’s work would probably be impossible. We deal with the offenses committed by top officials, who, in turn, constantly try to attack our independence or block our work altogether. 

In the last few years alone, more than 20 bills intended to limit our capacity have been registered in the parliament. And it’s also thanks to our international partners, that they have all failed. 

International partners provide considerable material, technical and consulting assistance to NABU: we can boast a unique IT laboratory that has no analogues in Ukraine, the launch of the eCase electronic criminal justice system, fully operational Special Operations Unit and many more.

You can find more details about NABU’s work in our semiannual reports under NABU.gov.ua.