The NABU is about tracking down top corrupt officials, and the BES is about efficient business and welfare: Tsyvynskyi compares the work and salaries of detectives
30 September 21:45
The NABU and the Bureau of Economic Security (BES) perform different functions and have a different history of formation. They also have different salaries, although the law provides otherwise.
Oleksandr Tsyvynskyi, director of the BES, said this in an interview with the YouTube channel "Komersant Ukrainian".
According to him, NABU was initially formed as a powerful body aimed at fighting corruption among top officials.
“The NABU is a very powerful force aimed at top corrupt officials. But the BES is about something else. It’s about future welfare, efficient business, protected investments and better provision of the Armed Forces if we work effectively,” explained Tsyvinsky.
The BES director noted that significant resources were immediately “invested” in the NABU, including human capital. The detectives were trained, improved their professional skills, and their work yielded better results every year.
But according to Tsyvinsky, the BES developed differently.
“And today we have a lot of regulatory problems that were solved from the first day in NABU, but here they have not been solved yet.
I was shocked when I realized that what the law provides for and what the agency should have had long ago is simply not there. For example, the internal security of the BES cannot carry out investigative activities to root out corruption in its ranks. In addition, the Bureau of Economic Security cannot purchase the necessary equipment to fulfill its tasks,” stated Tsyvinsky.
He emphasized that the salaries of the Bureau’s detectives are discriminatory.
“Those people who are supposed to build equal conditions for business, to pull hundreds of billions of hryvnias out of the shadows, are financed on a residual basis,” added the BES director.
Despite this, the Bureau of Economic Security is actively working to change the situation. Mr. Tsyvynskyi noted that they are working with the authorities to remove regulatory obstacles and ensure fair wages.
“It is very important for us that we are given the right to pay salaries in accordance with the law, as it is done in the SBI, NABU, NAPC and HACC. This is not a question of raising the budget, but of being able to pay salaries fairly,” he explained.
