Cabinet undermines NABU head selection process, Shabunin alleges

Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers made a decision that
might undermine the process of selecting the new director of the National
Anticorruption Bureau (NABU), Vitaliy Shabunin, head of the NGO Anti-Corruption
Action Center, reported on Feb. 15. In particular, the Cabinet appointed five
members of the commission for NABU director selection, while six members are
required, by law, for the commission to be valid. By law, the commission must
be formed no later than two months before the tenure of the current NABU
director expires, which is Feb. 15, according to Shabunin. Failure to create
the commission on time allows any court to question its validity, meaning that
any candidate to be offered by such commission can be rejected. Shabunin
personally blames President Zelensky for this act of sabotage by the government
during the creation of the commission.

The current NABU director Artem Sytnyk was appointed
to this position for seven years in April 2015. He proved his independence from
the government in the NABU’s attempts to fight corruption. Recall, another
important anti-corruption body, the Specialized Anticorruption Prosecutor’s
Office (SAPO) has had no head since August 2020. The selection commission for
SAPO head was close to electing NABU detective Oleksandr Klymenko to the
position in December. However, the commission’s members failed to make a final vote
at their three meetings in December and February, which anti-corruption
activists consider to be sabotage.

Alexander Paraschiy: Indeed, the
questionable validity of the NABU director selection commission is expedient
for power brokers: if the government considers a selected NABU head as
unacceptable, it will have all the legal means to avoid his ultimate
appointment. In this way, the power brokers guarantee that the new NABU
director will be either dependent on the president, or not appointed at all. In
such circumstances, the anti-corruption infrastructure will have a weak link,
even in case the government finally appoints the independent SAPO head. All in
all, Ukraine’s western sponsors are close to losing their battle for
establishing an independent anti-corruption infrastructure in Ukraine,
consisting of the NABU, the SAPO and the High Anticorruption Court.

Clearly, this does not play for Ukraine’s
investment case and even questions the prospects for the provision of the
already announced Western financial support for Ukraine. Therefore, the only
reason for such support to come to Ukraine is a need to fight the potential
Russian aggression.