The conflict in the anti-corruption sphere in Ukraine is gaining new momentum. Gizo Uglava, the head of the anti-corruption organization, has filed an official statement with the National Agency for Corruption Prevention (NACP) regarding possible violations of anti-corruption legislation by Semen Kryvonos, the director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine.
First Deputy Director of NABU Gizo Uglava filed a complaint with the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption about a possible violation of anti-corruption legislation by the head of the bureau, Semen Kryvonos, and became a whistleblower. He reported this on his Facebook page.
“I submitted a statement about the existence of a real conflict of interest with the NABU Director regarding me to the Disciplinary Commission, the Criminal Investigation Commission, and to the Director himself. But it was ignored by all of the above. At the same time, a similar statement was submitted to the relevant body - the NACP,” Uglava noted.
According to him, the NACP has begun monitoring and control over a possible violation of anti-corruption legislation by the NABU director.
He emphasized that Kryvonos is pressuring him with demands to resign, making decisions under external influence rather than based on the law, and also taking actions that undermine the rule of law in order to achieve private interests.
"In connection with the above, in accordance with the law, I have been granted whistleblower status. It is important to emphasize that within the framework of official investigations, the NABU director has already committed unlawful actions in the context of an existing conflict of interest. The NACP must further verify these circumstances to ensure trust in the anti-corruption system of Ukraine," Uglava pointed out.
This is not the first statement by the First Deputy Director of NABU, Gizo Uglava, about external influence on anti-corruption investigators and the bias of their investigations. Previously, Uglava stated that the bureau was under threat of losing its independence, and detectives were under political pressure, which significantly reduces the effectiveness of the fight against corruption. In particular, under pressure from activists and the head of the Verkhovna Rada's anti-corruption committee, Anastasia Radina.
He also complained about the bias and bias of NABU detectives, and stated that the conclusions in the case against him regarding leaks of information from the bureau were made a long time ago "without a trial or investigation.".
Statements about the NABU's bias and political bias have been made repeatedly, but anti-corruption activists have not paid attention to them.
A clear example is the anti-corruption cases against former Minister of Infrastructure Volodymyr Omelyan. He has repeatedly stated that detectives were biased in the case against him due to political bias. Both cases against him collapsed in the courts, but NABU did not officially apologize 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.
