For the first time since its establishment in 2015, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine has undergone an external independent assessment as required by law. According to the audit report, the work of NABU recognized moderately effective.
In the final conclusion, the commission noted that the bureau’s activity was moderately effective, and it also did not detect violations in the performance of duties by its director, Semen Kryvonos. The audit covered the period from March 2023 to November 2024 and was conducted by a commission of three international anti-corruption experts — Martin Arpo, Robert A. Westbrooks and Hermione Cronje, who were appointed by the Cabinet of Ministers at the request of international organizations.
“NABU successfully passed the first independent external evaluation of its kind. We identified what NABU is successful in and where there is a need for improvement. We assessed NABU’s work as sufficiently effective in investigations and international cooperation. In general, we assessed NABU’s activities as moderately effective and provided recommendations for further improving the effectiveness of its activities.” — commented on the audit results, the chairman of the commission, Robert Westbrooks.
Based on the results of the analysis, the commission provided NABU with 26 recommendations, including improving the procedures for protecting corruption whistleblowers, strengthening the cybersecurity of employees’ mobile devices, and developing a strategic plan with clearly defined performance indicators.
In addition, experts proposed a number of changes for the legislative branch of government. In particular, it is about the cancellation of the so-called “Lozovoy amendments”, which complicate the pre-trial investigation, as well as changing the periodicity of the external assessment from annual to biennial, which, according to the commission, will contribute to a more objective analysis of NABU’s activities.
