Competition for the head of BES: live broadcast of the competition commission meeting
11 June 13:17
The competition commission for the selection of the head of the Bureau of Economic Security (BES) has started a new meeting, at which it is planned to approve an updated schedule of interviews with candidates for the post of head of the agency. This is reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" with reference to the broadcast of the meeting.
The meeting was supposed to start today, June 11, 2025, at 13:00 in an online format, but started 15 minutes late.
The meeting is attended by the Commission members.
The first meeting after the pause
According to the official announcement, this will be the first meeting of the Commission after the previous one, which took place on June 8, 2025.
“The Commission notes that this is the first meeting organized after the June 8 meeting. No other meetings were held on June 9 and 10, 2025,” the statement said.
The purpose of the meeting
The main purpose of today’s meeting is to approve a new schedule of interviews with candidates for the position of the BES head.
The commission is expected to set clear dates and procedures for the interviews, which is an important step in the selection process.
Scandal with the competition for the head of the BES
Representatives of the state in the competition commission for the position of the head of the Bureau of Economic Security (BES) disrupted the last stage of the competition, namely the interview with the candidates, citing the need for additional verification by the Security Service of Ukraine.
Although all the candidates passed the special check on May 15, according to Yuriy Ponomarenko, the state representative in the commission, information emerged at the last minute that at least three candidates may have ties to Russia.
“Now, when the very survival of Ukrainian statehood is at stake, we must be as careful as possible. Only the Security Service of Ukraine can be the only authoritative source of verification of information about possible ties between the candidates and Russia,” he said during the last meeting.
Martyna Bohuslavets, head of the Anti-Corruption Center “Mezha”, said that the competition for the post of head of the Bureau of Economic Security (BES) on June 9 was finally disrupted by the President’s office. According to her, three government members of the competition commission from Ukraine did not attend the meeting and disrupted it due to the lack of quorum: Yuriy Ponomarenko from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Oleh Hilyaka from the Ministry of Economy, and Tetiana Matselyk from the Ministry of Finance.
She also points out that the competition for the position of BES director is our country’s obligation to the International Monetary Fund and that Ukraine could lose five billion dollars in support if it fails to fulfill its obligations .
Bohuslavets emphasizes that the commission has very little time left, as the agreement with the IMF stipulates that the competition should be completed by the end of July this year.
“Funding for the Commission’s activities is also limited, and the situation threatens to completely disrupt the reset of the BES and damage Ukraine’s financial capacity,” she adds.
The Anti-Corruption Center “Mezha” handed over a laptop with information in English on the disruption of the competition to 30 international partners, including the G7.
