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pared to the rest of Ukraine’s massive law enforcement institutions.
It’s easy to see this at the agency’s Kyiv office: while there’s a regular flow of NABU agents in civilian clothes near the entrance, passing men in military uniform who carry troves of documents, most of the building seems almost eerily empty.
Still, NABU’s impact has been real and its investigations have sent shockwaves through the system. In the last year, amongst the other big fish that have come under NABU’s scrutiny are Lieu- tenant General Igor Pavlovsky, a deputy defence minister, who has been accused of embezzlement, and the son of Arsen Avakov, the powerful interior minister, who was briefly arrested for his involve- ment in the “backpack case” – a scheme in which a businessman close to Olek-
and an attempt by the Ukrainian parlia- ment in early December to vote a new law that would allow the parliament to dismiss the director of the NABU.
The biggest success the pro-corruption lobby in parliament won was the dis- missal of the highly respected head of the legislative's anti-corruption com- mittee, Egor Sobolev, on December 7, which was widely seen as parliamentar- ians striking a blow against NABU and its work.
“I expected resistance,” Sytnyk says with a sigh, “but I did not think it
would be that intense. I also expected some political will, even if it was just pragmatic. But the authorities do not take any independent steps. Every new progress is made 'under the knife' of the civil society and international partners.”
“I expected resistance, but I did not think it would be that intense”
sandr Avakov allegedly sold UAH14m ($520,000) worth of backpacks to the Ukrainian military at an inflated price.
The elite strikes back
The cases against Avakov’s son and Igor Pavlovsky “united the Ukrainian political elite against NABU”, says Kaleniuk. When Nasirov was held in jail over the weekend before his arraignment last year, on Monday the courtroom was host to
an extraordinary scene when dozens of Rada deputies turned up to offer personal guarantees to ensure Nasirov’s release.
“NABU and its investigations represent an existential threat to most of those
in government,” says Tim Ash, head of strategy at Bluebay Asset Management.
As last year drew to an end a flurry of attacks rained down on NABU and its leadership in just a few weeks, two of which prompted a public outcry: the arrest by Ukraine’s Prosecutor General of several of NABU’s undercover agents, whose identity were revealed by the prosecutor (thus blowing their covers),
The December crisis was averted thanks to pressure from Ukraine’s civil society and frantic calls by Western embassies warning of potential consequences if NABU was placed under parliamentary control. But paradoxically, it also helped to put the issue of the anti-corruption court in the spotlight. “I think the law will be voted, as it’s become such a major issue for the West,” Vladimir Fesenko,
a Ukrainian political scientist, told bne IntelliNews.
The other step Sytnyk claims is needed to enhance the NABU’s efficiency would be to allow the bureau to do its own wiretapping – something it can currently only do through the SBU, Ukraine’s security service. But the director isn’t holding his breath.
“This can only happen if a new law
is voted,” Sytnyk says. “But that’s the problem: when there’s a bill to pressure NABU, then the parliament works very quickly, but when it's about making the NABU more effective, it has a lot more trouble getting the law voted.”
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