“No official meetings” and a “tour” of Europe: what the Verkhovna Rada’s Temporary Investigation Commission uncovered regarding the NABU director’s overseas business trips
8 July 12:26
The Verkhovna Rada’s Temporary Investigative Commission, which examined possible violations in the activities of law enforcement agencies, devoted a separate section of its final report to the NABU director’s overseas business trips. The commission concluded that the practice of international travel by the Bureau’s director raises questions regarding both its appropriateness and the potential risks to the independence of the anti-corruption system. This is stated in the text of the commission’s report, published on the Verkhovna Rada’s website, according to
In its final report, the TSK focused on several aspects of the NABU director’s activities which, in the commission’s opinion, require separate evaluation. These include, among other things, systematic joint trips with the head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), as well as overseas business trips to events not directly related to the Bureau’s functions.
Joint trips with the head of the SAPO
One of the TSC’s main conclusions was its assessment of the regular joint overseas business trips taken by the NABU director (Semen Kryvonos) and the head of the SAPO (Oleksandr Klymenko).
The Commission emphasizes that it is the SAPO that exercises procedural oversight over NABU’s investigations and performs the function of external oversight of the Bureau’s activities.
“Under such circumstances, systematic joint business trips by the heads of both agencies may create risks of excessive closeness between officials, between whom the legislature has deliberately established a system of checks and balances,” the report states.
According to the TSC, of the seven overseas business trips taken by the NABU director between April and August 2025, five coincided with trips by the head of the SAP.
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These include, in particular, trips to Washington, Krakow, Rome, London, Paris, Brussels, and Berlin.
“Such a practice clearly creates risks of informal ties, conflicts of interest, and reasonable doubts regarding whether there is sufficient distance between the pre-trial investigation body and the prosecutorial oversight body, as well as negatively affecting public perception of their independence and impartiality,” the report states.
Paris, Rome, and a “tour” of Europe
The commission paid particular attention to several international trips taken by the NABU director, questioning their relevance to the Bureau’s core functions.
For example, the commission characterized the March 2025 trip to Paris to participate in the OECD GACIF forum as a representative visit. The materials received by the commission from NABU contained no information about any official meetings.
“Based on the information provided by NABU, it appears that no official meetings were held during the trip, and the NABU director merely participated in the forum,” the document states.
In the TSK’s view, in the absence of concrete results regarding international cooperation or criminal proceedings, the necessity of such a business trip remained insufficiently justified.
Even more questions, as noted in the report, arose regarding the trip to Paris, Brussels, and Berlin in August 2025.
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The Commission notes that the NABU director met primarily with political, diplomatic, and government officials, rather than with representatives of law enforcement or anti-corruption agencies.
“Under these circumstances, the trip in question more closely resembles the performance of representative or foreign policy functions, which do not fall within NABU’s core responsibilities; these are the prerogatives of the President of Ukraine and members of the government, but not of the head of a law enforcement agency,” the TSC states.
The TSC was most critical of the NABU director’s participation in the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2025 in Rome.
The Commission notes that the conference was dedicated to Ukraine’s post-war recovery, investment, and economic development, whereas the documents provided contain no information about meetings directly related to anti-corruption investigations or international legal assistance.
“Given the nature of the conference, participation in it does not fall within NABU’s direct functions and is not directly related to the exercise of the Bureau director’s powers,” the document states.
The NABU Director failed to attend TSK meetings on four occasions
A separate section of the report is devoted to the NABU director’s interactions with the parliamentary commission.
The TSK asserts that the Bureau’s director was invited to attend meetings four times, with two invitations being resent due to a lack of response. However, he never participated in the commission’s work.
The report’s authors add that an invitation to the meeting scheduled for June 9, 2026, was sent as early as May 12. At the same time, just one day before the meeting, the commission received notification that the NABU director was on vacation.
“In fact, after receiving an invitation to the Temporary Investigative Commission meeting well in advance, the NABU Director went on leave, which made his personal participation in the Temporary Investigative Commission meeting impossible,” the Temporary Investigative Commission notes.
The commission viewed this behavior by Semen Kryvonos as a blatant disregard for parliamentary oversight.
The TSC also suggested that this “systematic failure to appear” could have been an attempt to delay the review of the materials until the end of the Commission’s term.
As reported by
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