NABU fails to meet society's expectations regarding fight against top corruption – experts
Over the 10 years of its activity, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) has not met society's expectations regarding the fight against corruption, the institution of agents is being abused, experts and human rights activists claim.
"The whole society... had huge expectations regarding the activities of NABU... the vast majority of citizens watched the formation of NABU and SAPO," founder of the volunteer group People's Rear, former Deputy Minister for Temporarily Occupied Territories Heorhiy Tuka said at a press conference on Monday at the Interfax-Ukraine agency.
"From the first steps, it became clear that NABU is hunting for big fish - high-ranking officials... but time has passed... and there are practically no sentences," he added, specifying that the sentences handed down do not concern top officials.
In addition, as Tuka claims, there is "abuse of the institution of agents" in NABU, that is, provocations to commit a crime.
"From my point of view, NABU's independence is now completely lost... the prosecution apparatus," he noted.
Lawyer, human rights activist, member of the Council of Internally Displaced Persons under Kyiv City State Administration Tetiana Ivanova, in turn, added: "The problem with provocation of NABU is so serious that if you open the Register of Court Decisions, then... in fact, for every second decision, it is established that there was a provocation of a bribe, and in the most resonant cases."
"Judge Chaus' case reached the Supreme Court and the final instance rendered a verdict and sentenced the judge to 10 years in prison. But they [the court] established in their decision that provocation had taken place," Ivanova emphasized.
Lawyer of the Doktryna Prava bar association Ihor Sydorenko added in turn: "All those traits that are inherent in the prosecutor's office employees automatically transferred to the NABU, since in fact it is about people changing their place of work - moving from one body to another."
According to him, there are numerous disciplinary proceedings and internal investigations against employees. "We see that the anti-corruption body is gradually turning into a source of corruption itself. Should this body be reformed, should the approaches to the formation of its personnel be changed... this must be done. Instead of fighting corruption, we see an imitation of this fight," Sydorenko said.
At the same time, he emphasized that this problem is inherent not only to NABU.
Economic expert, PhD of science in public administration Yuriy Havrylechko added that it did not make sense to create NABU as an executive body by a separate law: "The problem is not so much in lack of professionalism, but in the way this organization [NABU] was created, for what purpose."