NABU became Ukraine's first anti-corruption agency to cooperate with whistleblowers
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) became the government's first anti-corruption body to establish interaction with corruption whistleblowers at the regulatory level. This helps not only prevent corruption and unfair practices within the institution but also to protect the positive image of the agency. This was stated by the Head of the Internal Control Department of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, Roman Osypchuk, during the Second Annual Conference "Corruption Whistleblowers in Ukraine: Successes and Challenges".
"In order to implement the requirements of the anti-corruption legislation regarding the protection of whistleblowers, in 2018, NABU set up a network of internal channels for reporting possible facts of a corruption offense. One can report illegal actions by phone, e-mail or fill out an online form on the official website, while maintaining anonymity if required," explained Roman Osypchuk.
According to him, despite the existence of a legally established mechanism for interaction with whistleblowers in the National Bureau, the improvement of such interaction is defined as one of the priorities of the NABU Development Strategy for 2021-2023.
"Cooperation with corruption whistleblowers is already helping fight the enemy and get closer to our victory: the National Bureau secured approximately USD 11 million for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Part of this amount was the largest bribe in the history of NABU worth 5 million, meant for the heads of anti-corruption bodies for closing the criminal proceedings against the former Minister of Ecology," the deputy head of NABU detective department, Oleksandr Abakumov, told the conference.
The conference "Corruption Whistleblowers in Ukraine: successes and challenges" was held this year for the second time. It was organized by the National Agency for Corruption Prevention and the Anti-Corruption Research and Education Centre with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation.
