High costs, failures in work, low efficiency: why NABU should be disbanded
OPINION
Ukraine constantly needs money to finance the army. To get more of it, we can either cut some expenses or raise taxes. It is clear that none of us wants to increase taxes, especially in these difficult times. The only option left is to cut spending at the expense of inefficient structures that are currently consuming billions of budget dollars. And the first candidate for this is the NABU, whose inefficiency is already obvious even to international experts. Let me explain why NABU should be disbanded.
Low economic efficiency. Over the 10 years of the Bureau’s existence, the state has spent more than UAH 10 billion on it. At the same time, the total amount of penalties imposed by court decisions in cases handled by the NABU in 2015-2025 is UAH 800 million. In its report, the NABU itself uses the figure of a mythical economic effect of UAH 10 billion. According to experts, the Bureau includes seized assets in its calculations, but seizure is only an intermediate stage of the process, not a real return of funds to the state.
That is, for every 1 hryvnia returned to the country’s budget, NABU spent… 12 (!) hryvnias! This is a striking “efficiency”.
Low return on detectives. Last year, the NABU opened 669 criminal proceedings, which is 2-3 proceedings per detective. For comparison, one SBI investigator simultaneously investigates 300 to 1000 cases. At the same time, only 30% of the suspects in the cases investigated by NABU detectives are government officials or public servants. Therefore, Transparency International Ukraine in its report on 10 years of the Bureau’s work strongly recommends optimizing the use of resources: focusing on grand corruption cases and those related to systemic corruption.
NABU is not proactive. Most of the cases it investigates are not initiated by the Bureau – they are usually transferred from other agencies (SBI, National Police, etc.). In fact, 77% of all corruption crimes in the country are investigated by the National Police.
Delayed investigations. NABU detectives are famous for their high-profile exposés of high-ranking officials, but it often takes them ten years to bring their “exposés” to a verdict.
We can recall the case of the former head of Energomerezha, Dmytro Kriuchkov, which detectives investigated for almost 10 years. Now, at least, there is a decision of the court of first instance. For example, the cases against former Infrastructure Minister Omelyan were investigated and investigated, and in the end, both fell apart in court: one was closed by the High Anti-Corruption Court due to the expiration of the statute of limitations, and the other was acquitted. For more than 5 years, NABU had been investigating the case against former Minister of Agrarian Policy Mykola Solskyi. So far, there is no court decision in the case…
Doubtful examinations that led to the collapse of high-profile cases (in particular, Rotterdam or Omelyan). This is, for example, the case of the Expert Group “ES&D” LLC. Conflict of interest: forensic examinations are ordered by senior detective Viktor Yarema, and performed by the daughter of his former colleague from the Rivne Prosecutor’s Office. Or the “International Expert Legal Group”, which was commissioned to examine the market value of land plots. However, the KVEDs under which it is registered do not provide for such an examination. Even astrological and spiritualistic activities (and this is not a joke!) are allowed, but land value assessments are not.
In addition, this whole show with investigations is accompanied by constant scandals involving detectives: suspicious transactions with luxury apartments that are registered and re-registered to relatives and declared at a lower price, VIP cars with the same lower price, crypto fraud, “bailing” relatives out of prison and concealing their Russian citizenship, and systemic corruption.
So, to summarize: high costs with low returns multiplied by the professional inefficiency of detectives, along with lack of initiative, questionable expertise, and corruption scandals among employees. This is the NABU of today. And it needs radical measures. The first step is to disband the Bureau and create a new anti-corruption system. Otherwise, there will be no progress.
Author – Oleh Posternak, political strategist, political consultant
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