print version

NABU adapts to work under war conditions: discussion

A full-scale russian invasion changed the lives of the entire country and affected the work of state institutions. The anti-corruption agencies were ready to face these challenges: they successfully adapted their work to a new reality and continued to fight corruption. After all, effective anti-corruption efforts is what Ukraine is required as a potential candidate for EU membership.

The discussion “How do anti-corruption agencies work during the war?” was organized by the EU Anti-Corruption Initiative and took place on June 16, 2022. The attendees, representatives of Ukraine’s anti-corruption bodies, spoke of how their work had changed since the beginning of the invasion and summarized what had been done over more than 3 months.

"We knew exactly what to do in case of military aggression. First, we took the materials of criminal proceedings, office files, valuable property, and servers to a safe place. Some employees moved to the Lviv Territorial Office, but most remained in Kyiv. Apart from investigating top-level corruption, detectives cooperated with the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Security Service, the Ministry of Defense, and mechanized brigades of the Armed Forces,” said Volodymyr Vasylchuk, head of NABU’s detective unit.

In March 2022 alone, NABU:

  • detained more than 50 people and handed them over to the SSU;
  • prepared 284 SALUTE reports for the Armed Forces;
  • helped the Ukrainian military to escape shelling and destruction for 7 times;
  • interviewed more than 40 thousand people;
  • started over 10 probes into war crimes.

Representatives of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO), the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC), the Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA), and the National Corruption Prevention Agency (NAPC) also dwelled on their achievements since the beginning of the war. Thus, during martial law, NABU and SAPO sent 12 indictments to court, the HACC passed 12 sentences and sent almost UAH 500 million to the Armed Forces. ARMA tracked down assets in Ukraine and abroad for a total amount of more than USD 1 billion, and the NAPC compiled a list of more than 12,000 sanctioned persons.

Read also