IMF program sets end-of-july deadline for appointing new head of Ukraine's Economic Security Bureau – memo
Ukraine is expected to appoint a new head of the Bureau of Economic Security (BES) through a competitive selection process by the end of July 2025, according to an updated Extended Fund Facility (EFF) memorandum with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
"We remain committed to finalizing the selection process for appointing the new ESBU [Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine] as soon as possible despite the delays," the Ukrainian side stated in its Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies, published recently on the Finance Ministry's website as part of the eighth review of the EFF.
The memorandum notes that the BES law approved in June 2024 established robust mechanisms for the selection commission for the BES head with a decisive and crucial vote for independent experts with international experience.
"Independent experts will also play an important role in the attestation process of existing staff (to assess their integrity and professional competence), as well as HR commissions to select new staff," the document states.
It further stipulates that the vetting of the heads and their deputies of 17 division and territorial offices will be prioritized. The new BES director will be responsible for finalizing vetting procedures and forming the attestation commission within three months of appointment.
As previously reported, in October 2024, the selection commission was approved as part of the implementation of Law No. 10439 on "relaunching" the BES, adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on June 29, 2024.
On June 25, the selection commission recommended that the government appoint Oleksandr Tsyvynsky, former head of a detective unit at NABU. Tsyvynsky received votes from all three international commission members, while Ukrainian members supported two other candidates – Mykhailo Burtovy and Oleh Borysenko.
Before the final vote, Interior Ministry representative Yuriy Ponomarenko announced that the SBU had confirmed family ties to Russian citizens for three candidates: Viktor Dubovyk, Oleksandr Skomarov, and Oleksandr Tsyvynsky.
However, international representative Donatas Malaskevicius, an anti-corruption expert with the EU4IBMResilience project, clarified that the Security Service letter, received just days before the vote, called for further checks to assess any security risks, meaning that no current risks had been confirmed. Commission chair Laura Ștefan, an international anti-corruption expert for the European Commission, World Bank, UNDP, and OECD, added that all three had held or still hold senior public posts and likely underwent relevant background checks.
The Cabinet had 10 days to approve the appointment but instead, on July 7, asked the commission to resubmit no more than two candidates who meet all criteria, taking security concerns into account.
"The government reviewed additional materials, particularly from the S Security Service, related to national security, and containing relevant assessments. Following a thorough review, Cabinet members unanimously decided to ask the selection commission to resubmit no more than two qualified candidates," the government stated.
This decision has already drawn criticism from a number of MPs, experts, and civil society activists, who claim it reflects a lack of political will to fight corruption, violates Ukrainian law, and undermines the country's commitments to international partners.