BES Deputy Director Pashchuk: 1.9 billion spent on the Bureau’s work – 3 billion returned
20 August 20:24
The Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine has already returned more than UAH 3 billion to the budget as part of investigated criminal proceedings. Andriy Pashchuk, deputy director of the BES, said this in a YouTube interview with "Komersant Ukrainian".
According to him, UAH 1.9 billion has been allocated for the maintenance of the agency, which includes salaries, IT infrastructure, utilities, development and events. At the same time, the agency has managed to recover an amount exceeding the costs of its operations in six months.
“From a commercial point of view, we have recouped our expenses. But I would like to emphasize that this is not an indicator for a law enforcement agency. We do not raise funds, we are not a controlling administrative body,” Pashchuk emphasized.
He added that the official data on the reimbursed amounts is kept by the Prosecutor General’s Office, which compiles the relevant statistics.
As a reminder, the Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine (BES) was established in 2021 as a single body to combat economic crimes to replace the tax police.
Since its launch, the agency has been repeatedly criticized for its low efficiency and problems with personnel selection.
The government and the Verkhovna Rada have repeatedly raised the issue of reforming or even liquidating the Bureau due to scandals related to its activities. At the same time, the BES management regularly reports billions of dollars in budget revenues from exposed tax evasion schemes.
