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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
“I consider the issue of politicizing our investigations extremely dangerous,” says the director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), Semen Kryvonos.
The formation of a narrative about NABU’s politicization and alleged influence on government decision-making is a separate challenge for the bureau, its director says during the “New Country” discussion “Autumn-Winter 26-27: the main”
challenges of war, politics, society, business, and life-support systems,” a joint project of LB.ua and EFI Group.
LB.ua compiled the main points from the discussion.
On the politicization of NABU’s work
“If our investigations in one way or another lead to political consequences, and that happens because we expose high-ranking officials, that does not mean the investigation itself is politically motivated,” says Semen Kryvonos, commenting on some officials’ fear of the Bureau. He adds: to avoid fearing criminal prosecution, it is enough not to commit corruption crimes.
Semen Kryvonos
According to Kryvonos, a coincidence in timing between NABU’s actions and other political or international events does not mean there is a connection. He calls claims that the Bureau’s investigations could be linked, in particular, to the arrival date of American negotiators “artificial stretching”: “This is done solely to create the impression that NABU is a political actor and acts with political motivation. But that is not the case. The goal is to undermine trust in NABU and thereby protect oneself from criminal prosecution.” However, he says, such a tactic will not help.
NABU, Kryvonos emphasizes, operates autonomously and impartially, and martial law cannot be grounds for not investigating corruption crimes: “There are no red lines that we, while investigating our alleged crimes, must cross or not cross. The only red line is the law. If we do not violate the law, if the law obliges us to investigate a corruption crime — we must do it. There are no concessions, no mitigating circumstances.”
On the contrary, he added, certain articles of the Criminal Code provide for increased liability for crimes committed during martial law: “Every stolen hryvnia is a reduction in the country’s defense capability. That’s all.”
According to Kryvonos, this is also one reason why, during the war, the fight against corruption is directly linked to the resilience of the state.
Semen Kryvonos, Director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine
How the Bureau decides which investigation materials to publish
The Bureau publishes certain materials from investigative (search) actions after they are declassified and the state secret marking is removed — with permission from the investigator, detective, or prosecutor.
“We have done this for almost all our exposures — the communication method is always the same, perhaps only the formats change,” explains Semen Kryvonos.
At the same time, over the past year and a half such materials have attracted much more attention because of the prominence of some suspects and the scale of the corruption crimes.
Kryvonos attributes this not only to public interest but also to a shift in the Bureau’s own priorities. “We have simply become more effective at obtaining evidence of corruption online,” he said.
According to the NABU director, one of his tasks after his appointment was to make the Bureau’s work more proactive: to prioritize cases and expose ongoing corruption.
“We defined a system of priorities in the SAP and work according to it. Of course, a crime that occurred five years ago will be less interesting to the public than what is exposed here and now, during the war,” Kryvonos noted.
Semen Kryvonos, Director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine
That is why, he says, public interest in NABU’s recent investigations is largely explained by the Bureau’s attempt to expose corruption not post factum, but when it is happening.
When to expect NABU’s high-profile cases to be sent to court
In the case of “Midas,” in which the suspects include businessman Tymur Mindich and two former government officials — Herman Halushchenko and Oleksiy Chernyshov — the pretrial investigation is to be completed in October–November, a year after the first suspicions, as provided by law.
After the investigation is completed, defense counsel will be given access to the materials for review. After that, the case will be sent to the High Anti-Corruption Court.
Kryvonos emphasized that NABU does not intend to “quietly” release corrupt officials. He said the publicity of investigations is one way to prevent further offenses by officials.
Laws NABU needs
Another challenge Kryvonos named is the need to pass bills that should strengthen the fight against corruption. According to him, this directly affects the effectiveness of NABU, the SAP, and the High Anti-Corruption Court.
This includes, in particular, creating an independent expert institution for NABU and resolving procedural issues related to the capacity of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office.
This framework is written into the Ukraine Facility plan and the ten-point plan of priority reforms, the NABU director noted.
“Many bills have already been registered at the initiative of various members of parliament. The government prepared them — the previous composition did, the new one is probably preparing them — we have not yet communicated with them on this topic,” Kryvonos said.
Semen Kryvonos and LB.ua journalist Anzhelika Syzenenko
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