The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) has decided to expand its competences and start a new area of activity — waste management. From now on, in addition to the fight against corruption, NABU detectives will be trained in the proper handling of hazardous waste. In accordance with data on the Prozorro platform, the bureau will allocate a modest 12 thousand hryvnias for these trainings.
In accordance with the signed contract, the State Environmental Academy of Postgraduate Education and Management will conduct trainings for anti-corruption officers. The program will include such topics as regulatory and legal requirements in the field of hazardous waste management, waste classification, methods of their disposal, state accounting, certification and minimization of negative impacts on the environment and population. Three NABU employees will undergo training, and the agency will pay 12,000 hryvnias for this.
In addition, NABU plans to purchase three portable weather stations for a total of over 50 thousand hryvnias, as well as air conditioners with heating for almost 1.3 million hryvnias. This is surprising given the warnings of the authorities and international organizations about the difficult energy situation this winter.
The cost of maintaining anti-corruption bodies is also impressive. Over the entire period of their existence, the costs of NABU, SAP and VAKS are estimated at 12-13 billion hryvnias, and the budget requests of these bodies grow every year. All this is financed by taxpayers who are preparing for the next tax increases.
The effectiveness of anti-corruption bodies also raises questions. International auditors found numerous problems in the work of NABU, including recommendations on the need to provide psychological support to detectives. The auditors also drew attention to the duration of consideration of cases at the VAKS, which can drag on for years, while NABU investigates individual cases for decades. Despite the length of the investigations, many cases against high-ranking officials eventually collapse in the courts.
