Not every informer is a whistleblower, - NABU Detective
The National Bureau scrupulously checks all the reports of crimes, including information on how and under what circumstances a person became aware of a possible offense. This was emphasized by NABU Detective Oleksandr Abakumov on June 24, 2021 at the International Conference "Whistleblowers in Ukraine: Success and Challenges".
“In the broadest sense of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, whistleblowers are all persons who come to NABU with reports of criminal corruption offenses. However, as the practice has it, there are some people whose reports are based on what they read in the media, and they want to be recognized as whistleblowers,” Oleksandr Abakumov said.
According to the detective, at the legislative level, the issue of paying out remuneration to whistleblowers remains problematic: who takes the final decision on the payment, its amount, and the way it should be done.
The National Bureau has already got a number of successful investigations involving whistleblowers. The most famous cases include:
- an attempt to provide a USD 6 million bribe to the Heads of the National Bureau and SAPO;
- an attempt to bribe the Deputy Minister of Education by the rector of one of the higher educational institutions;
- extorting unlawful benefit by the director of one of the institutes of Ukraine's National Academy of Agrarian Sciences;
- accepting a USD 90 thousand of improper advantage by the Chairman of the Village Council of Kyiv-Sviatoshynskyi District.
