An internal probe into alleged pressure on a whistleblower at the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine will be completed this week, Semen Kryvonos, chief of the anti-graft agency also known by its acronym NABU, told a parliamentary committee probing the affair.
"The deadline (for the probe into the pressure on the whistleblower) is the last 10 days of July 2024 but we are planning to finish the probe... in the upcoming days," Kryvonos said at a July 15 meeting of parliament’s anti-corruption committee. He later elaborated that it would be completed this week.
The NABU was set up in 2015 as part of a new Western-style anti-corruption infrastructure separate from Soviet-era law enforcement bodies, which were notoriously corrupt and subservient to top politicians.
Since the bureau is supposed to investigate the corruption of top officials, its independence from the incumbent authorities is seen as crucial and was a condition of Ukraine's Western allies, who supported the NABU's creation with financing and know-how. Its success is a pre-condition for Ukraine’s European integration.
The whistleblower, whose name is unknown, revealed information on the NABU allegedly leaking case material to suspects in a high-profile corruption investigation, and warning them about upcoming searches.
A criminal case into the leaks was launched in May. Two internal probes, into the alleged pressure on the whistleblower and illegal instructions allegedly given by top NABU officials to detectives, were initiated in the same month. There is no internal probe into the leak itself.
The leak scandal and its aftermath have prompted accusations that the NABU’s independence was compromised, allegedly with involvement of several people linked to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office.
Gizo Uglava, who has been the NABU's deputy chief for nine years, is being investigated in the leak case and has been suspended at his own request.
Kryvonos has also been lambasted by the anti-corruption committee and anti-corruption activists due to what they see as his failure to react to the leak scandal quickly and adequately and to fire Uglava.
Kryvonos was first invited to a meeting of parliament’s anti-corruption committee on June 20 but failed to show up. The committee decided to hold a second meeting on the issue at the NABU's premises on July 15. This time, Kryvonos attended.
Kryvonos said at the meeting that the NABU's disciplinary commission is expected to make a final recommendation within a month based on the results of the internal probe into pressure on the whistleblower. Kryvonos will then make decisions based on this recommendation.
The commission may recommend a dismissal, reprimand or warning of those behind the pressure on the whistleblower.
Commenting on the criminal investigation into the leaks, Kryvonos said it is being carried out by the NABU's internal audit unit and supervised by prosecutors of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office. He said, however, that detectives of the unit have no authority to investigate the head and deputy heads of the NABU, which means they wouldn’t touch Uglava. Moreover, he said that investigating the cases of employees divulging investigative secrets is not within their jurisdiction.
Under Ukrainian law, the case may be transferred to the State Investigation Bureau if the NABU lacks jurisdiction.
The NABU did not respond to requests for comment. Kryvonos has not given any interviews or comments to the media since the leak scandal erupted.
Oleg Sukhov
Holding NABU accountable
Anastasia Radina, chairperson of parliament's anti-corruption committee and a member of Zelensky’s Servant of the People party with a background in anti-corruption activism, said at a news briefing on July 15 that the NABU should respond to the leak scandal now, not when the criminal investigation is completed.
"This is (Kryvonos') discretion and his responsibility," Radina said. "He must show that he's fighting for the NABU's independence... The NABU's normal work should be restored now – not in two, three or five years during which the criminal investigation will take place."
Radina also said that the anti-corruption committee would only be satisfied "when the internal probe is completed, when they determine who gave illegal instructions to detectives, who pressured whistleblowers, and when these people are fired."
If the NABU is incapable of addressing these issues, parliament may pass legislation to vet NABU employees, including its leadership, she added.
Radina also said that international experts are expected to soon start an audit of the NABU's work. Ukrainian law envisages regular audits of the NABU's performance.
"If, based on this audit, the work of the NABU and its chief are recognized as ineffective, this is grounds for the Cabinet to fire the NABU's chief," she said.
Kryvonos has also come under fire for allegedly failing to make the NABU's work transparent and accountable to the public.
Radina said that the NABU had written in a letter to the committee that it would not let journalists in during the July 15 committee meeting.
Kryvonos said he was not against inviting journalists but believes that a public discussion on the issue is premature.
Meanwhile, the NABU's first deputy chief Gizo Uglava wrote on Facebook on July 12 that he had passed a polygraph test that exonerated him of being implicated in the leaks. The polygraph test was conducted at Uglava’s initiative by Volodymyr Vedmid, head of a polygraph company called Vedmid, Ishchuk and Partners.
“It is precisely because of my principled position and unequivocal desire to fight corruption that a powerful discrediting campaign was launched based on unfounded accusations and slander,” Uglava said. “The unjustified media attack against me continues to this day. Given this, I can only draw one conclusion – all these actions are aimed at destroying my reputation.”
However, later it turned out that the test was not authorized by the NABU, and it is not clear if it can be trusted.
Kryvonos said on July 15 that the NABU had invited Uglava to take a polygraph test as part of the internal probe but he has not taken the test yet.
Polygraph tests can be used for probes and investigations but they are not considered to be proof of a person’s guilt or innocence.
Oleg Sukhov
Leak saga
The alleged leaks that sparked the current NABU scandal were discovered after investigators seized a phone belonging to businessman Yury Holyk, who was under investigation in a high-profile corruption case.
The phone contained copies of messages obtained by Holyk from an intermediary who allegedly talked with NABU employees from 2021 through 2023. Some of the messages have since been published by investigative journalists.
Both Holyk and his intermediary, Georgy Birkadze, are linked to the President’s Office.
Birkadze is an advisor at the office. Holyk’s involvement is less orthodox: While the businessman doesn’t hold an official job in the administration, he has been known to participate in high-level meetings there and visit the President’s Office daily. Holyk said that he acted as a “consultant” to the office’s “Big Construction” infrastructure project.
The NABU is investigating a high-profile embezzlement scheme within the “Big Construction” project where Holyk was allegedly involved.
The President’s Office did not respond to requests for comment.
Apart from Holyk, Zelensky's former Deputy Chief of Staff Kyrylo Tymoshenko has been investigated in the “Big Construction” case and is mentioned as Birkadze’s “boss” in leaked correspondence.
Tymoshenko’s car was searched by the NABU in June. Ukrainian media, citing their sources in law enforcement, said the search was conducted within the leak case.
At the center of the accusations is Uglava, who has been the agency’s second-in-command since the NABU was set up in 2015.
Uglava was a prosecutor and member of ex-Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s reformist team in Georgia in the 2000s and was invited to take part in Western-style law enforcement reforms in Ukraine after the 2014 EuroMaidan Revolution.
Three law enforcement sources told the Kyiv Independent that some of the messages in the leaked correspondence could have been written by either Uglava or someone who got information from Uglava and was passing it on.
Three sources told the Kyiv Independent that the style of the messages does not match Uglava's but only Uglava could have access to the whole amount of information in the correspondence.
On June 20, another scandal broke out after online newspaper Ukrainska Pravda reported that Kryvonos had allegedly stopped the NABU from conducting a planned search of the house of Oleksiy Chernyshov, chairman of oil and gas company Naftogaz and a former minister, as part of a corruption investigation.
Chernyshov is reportedly close with Zelensky. He was one of the few people invited to attend Zelensky's birthday party in 2021, amid the Covid-19 restrictions.
Kryvonos also has a link to Chernyshov: When Chernyshov was minister for the development of communities and territories from 2020 to 2022, Kryvonos headed one of the agencies subordinated to Chernyshov – the State Inspection Service for Architecture and Urban Planning.
Chernyshov has confirmed meeting Kryvonos but claimed that they talked about "increasing the transparency" of Naftogaz, which is chaired by Chernyshov.
Note from the author:
Hello! My name is Oleg Sukhov, the guy who wrote this piece for you.
I was born in Russia and moved to Ukraine in 2014 because I couldn't stand the suffocating atmosphere of that semi-totalitarian country. I used to think it might be possible to transform Russia into a liberal Western-oriented country. Now it's clear that it's a lost cause.
But at least I can atone for the crimes of my homeland by exposing its barbaric aggression against Ukraine and providing objective and independent coverage of what is going on there. I'm also trying to contribute to Ukraine's transformation into a full-fledged Western liberal democracy strong enough to defeat Russia.
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Oleg Sukhov
