Who Oversees the SEB?

Who oversees the BEB?

Oleh Tatárov — today the deputy head of the Presidential Office. He is a former official of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. He held the position of deputy head of the Main Investigations Department of the MIA (under the leadership of Minister Vitaliy Zaharchenko).

It was Tatárov, by Zaharchenko’s order, who headed the division of organizing control over investigations during the events of the Maidan.

He publicly recounted everything about the detention of protesters and the advancement of criminal cases against them. For this, apparently, he was dismissed from the organs. He began practicing as a lawyer. A well-known case is the defense of former MP and owner of LLC Ukrbud Development — Maksym Mykytas. In this proceeding he developed a criminal case against himself. The criminal case against Oleh Tatárov, after the NABU investigation in December 2020, was closed by the General Prosecutor of Ukraine.

Tatárov becomes the “watcher” over the BEB’s activities and the direct director Vadym Melnyk.

To ensure reliability, Tatárov also placed his own people in leadership chairs at the BEB. Mykola Chynchyn — he was his boss in the MIA and during the Maidan made decisions that impeded his further career in the agency. Vitaliy Hagach — a subjected-to-lustration prosecutor, and, incidentally, a godfather of Oleh Tatárov, and today heads the BEB’s Main Detective Unit. There is also another godfather — Oleksandr Tkachuk, who was being prepared for the BEB Director’s post. He worked in the MIA, the State Tax Service, the Security Service of Ukraine, etc., but in fact had only 4 months of managerial experience as the head of a department. The Law on the BEB, with its qualifications requirements for candidates, was not written for Tatárov. Therefore the appointment has been put on pause.

Author: Olena Smal.