The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) has published its report for the first half of 2024, which states that 3.7 billion hryvnias were saved or returned to the state budget. Despite these figures, questions arise about the real effectiveness of anti-corruption efforts against the background of the scale of corruption in Ukraine.
In the first six months of 2024, the amount of compensation in NABU and SAPO cases reached only 209.3 million hryvnias. Despite the records, corruption crimes continue to flourish, exceeding the successes of anti-corruption agencies.
As of June 30, 2024, the state had been reimbursed over UAH 9.3 billion thanks to NABU and SAPO. However, the total costs of maintaining these bodies are approximately UAH 12-13 billion, which calls into question the economic efficiency of their existence.
In addition, the effectiveness of the NABU and SAPO is affected by the significant number of acquittals in their cases, as in the case of former Minister Volodymyr Omelyan, where both cases collapsed in the courts. However, NABU has not officially apologized to the former Minister for the illegal criminal prosecution and damage to his business reputation.
There are also concerns about violations of the presumption of innocence by the NABU, as in the cases against Mykola Solsky and People's Deputy Serhiy Kuzmin.
A Kharkiv human rights group also criticized NABU for statements that violate the presumption of innocence. They believe the real reason for Solsky's prosecution is land market reform in Ukraine.
In addition, Solsky helped ATO veterans obtain land plots that other interested parties could have “saved” for themselves. This fact embarrassed NABU, which sided with the scandalous National Agrarian Academy instead of the military personnel.
Such political persecution and the critically low trust of Ukrainians in anti-corruption agencies are serious signals on the eve of the first international audit of NABU, which, according to the bureau's leadership, is about to begin.
At the same time, the idea of creating its own expert institution at the NABU, proposed by Semyon Kryvonos, raises serious concerns, given the repeated cases of manipulation of expert examinations, which could lead to biased prosecutions and transformation into the Soviet NKVD.
It is the falsification of expert opinions by NABU detectives that is usually the legal basis for acquittals by the Supreme Court of Criminal Appeals. As was the case of former Minister Omelyan. And it will probably be the case of former Minister Solsky, where NABU detectives attempted to hide and annul the expert opinion that they themselves had appointed. Probably because the expert opinion could have proven the innocence of the suspects.
