Ukraine law enforcement enters latest conflict with anti-corruption bureau

Officers with the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU),
in cooperation with prosecutors of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, arrested
on Nov. 29 an agent with the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) during a
special operation targeting the State Migration Service of Ukraine. SBU
officers also conducted searches of the NABU offices that day.

In the view of the migration service, the arrested
NABU official was provoking its otherwise indignant official into accepting a
bribe. According to the NABU leadership, SBU officers and prosecutors
deliberately sabotaged a special operation that targeted corruption in the
migration service. “The goal of the operation was to uncover a large criminal
organization and uncover all the scheme’s participants,” a NABU spokesman said
on Nov. 30.

NABU Head Artem Sytnyk met with Prosecutor General
Yuriy Lutsenko for two hours on Nov. 30, after which Sytnyk said that Lutsenko
wasn’t aware of the NABU special operation. Lutsenko acknowledged possible
corruption among those targeted by the investigation, but also criticized NABU
agents for lacking proper credentials to perform their work.

Zenon Zawada: The bottom
line here is that the tension between NABU and Ukrainian law enforcement
structures continues to escalate. This tension is positive in the sense that
NABU is targeting previously immune state bodies, like the migration service.
But the ongoing resistance from the Prosecutor General and SBU – both loyal to
President Poroshenko – is disappointing and continues to harm the government’s
image among Western officials.

While NABU might have
some flaws (what government body doesn’t?), the Poroshenko administration needs
to recognize that NABU enjoys more trust from the public, both domestically and
abroad. Lutsenko seems to be starting to understand this to some extent when
acknowledging corruption in the migration service.