Economic investigative service to be created, receiving authority from SBU

Ukraine’s parliament adopted on Jan. 28 a bill creating
a Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine, which is designed as an independent
body to investigate economic offenses. Based on the approved law, as soon as
the bureau is created, but no later than six months, the State Security Service
of Ukraine (SBU) should liquidate its divisions responsible for investigating
corruption and “counterintelligence protection of the economy,” which have
become notorious for interfering in business activity instead, the
Anti-Corruption Action Centre NGO reported the same day.

“We are sure that the SBU will delay the process of
creating the bureau and will try to roll back these changes,” the NGO’s board
member Olena Scherban commented, remarking that top SBU officials are allegedly
ready to kill each other in order to
distribute power and corrupt money streams.

The same day, parliament approved the first draft of a
bill to reform the State Security Service, which should strengthen and
antiterrorist activity of the service.

Zenon Zawada: Such reforms are very timely in light of the mentioned rivalry within
the SBU to take control of illicit revenue streams. It is safe to say that the
SBU has failed its function to prevent or uncover economic crimes, which have
been a cancer to independent Ukraine. The bureau’s creation is another example
of the benefits of cooperating with IFIs. The bureau will also take on the
functions of corresponding divisions within the National Police and State Tax
Service. Even with the creation of an independent agency however, the experience of the National
Anti-Corruption Bureau shows
it won’t be immune from political conflicts and attempts to corrupt its
activity.