Effective international cooperation is crucial in finding and recovering siphoned off assets - Artem Sytnyk
In six years, the National Bureau has sent 944 requests for international legal assistance to more than 75 countries. This indicates not only the spread of Ukrainian corruption in the world but also shows that without international cooperation the fight against corruption is impossible.
NABU Director Artem Sytnyk emphasized this June 8, 2021 during a series of blitz talks “Joint Response to Weaponization of Corruption. Investigating Transborder Corruption and Recovery of Illicit Funds”, which took place as part of the international Zero Corruption Conference.
"Corruption schemes exposed by NABU and SAPO are rarely implemented solely inside Ukraine: usually, stolen funds are siphoned off abroad. During six years of our activity, we have recorded traces of Ukrainian corruption in more than 75 countries. Therefore, we constantly cooperate with the competent foreign authorities in order to collect evidence certain persons are involved in the commission of corruption crimes. The effectiveness of our cooperation is facilitated by the fact that NABU got the right to independent international cooperation from the very beginning," Artem Sytnyk said.
According to the NABU Director, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and Latvia are among the countries most frequently addressed by NABU. Among the many examples of successful international cooperation, Artem Sytnyk singled out the work of the first-ever investigative group in the history of Ukrainian law enforcement agencies, consisting of the National Bureau Detectives and their Polish colleagues, which exposed a criminal group led by the former head of the State Road Agency of Ukraine (Ukravtodor), as well as the cooperation with Swiss colleagues in a probe against one of the former MPs.
