2024-08-27T21:23:00+03:00 Law Enforcement 2024-09-21T04:00:02+03:00

Ukrainian news

Zelenskyy expecting NACB’s international audit in near future

Zelenskyy expecting NACB’s international audit in near future

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hopes that the international audit of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NACB) will be conducted this year.

He told the Ukrainian News agency about this.

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"I think so (an international audit of the NACB is possible this year - Ed.), but I honestly don't know," Zelenskyy expressed hope.

According to him, the timing of the NACB audit is a matter for Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and the Cabinet of Ministers.

"Regarding the timing of the audit, to be honest, it seems to me that institutionally this is a matter for the Prime Minister and the Cabinet of Ministers. They are implementing this decision. I cannot tell you about the dates and deadlines," the president said.

The head of state noted that today anti-corruption and law enforcement agencies work independently and criticized this approach, as well as the scandals that appear in these agencies.

"As for the anti-corruption officers and law enforcement officers, that is why I made the meeting and we met. I asked them very much to work together. I asked them very much not to have any challenges, no scandals among them. Because in wartime, it is necessary that we work together. Institutionally, we have strengthened, from the point of view of the EU, the demand for reforms. We had to strengthen as much as possible. The Rada passed relevant bills on strengthening the anti-corruption system in Ukraine. Today, it seems to me that the most important thing in Ukraine is for them to start working together. Not everyone is a hero by himself, even though our country is heroic,” the president noted.

Zelenskyy emphasized that he wants to hold monthly such meetings with anti-corruption bodies to discuss issues and challenges that arise during their work.

"And it seems to me that once they start working together, I really want us to meet once a month, so that we can talk about what are the issues, what are the challenges, and what is missing to clean the entire system and where to put a shoulder. We hope that in 2 weeks they will work proposals," the head of state said.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, in May of this year the NACB was involved in a scandal due to the leak of data in cases and involvement in the leak of the leadership of the NACB, in particular the first deputy director of the NACB Gizo Uglava. Subsequently, he was suspended from his position during the official investigation and pre-trial investigation of the criminal proceedings. At the beginning of August, the official investigation into the data leak was completed, but its results are still unknown to the public.

Sociological polls show that Ukrainians do not trust anti-corruption bodies. The Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (49.5% do not trust it, while 27% trust it), the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) (49% and 26.5%, respectively), the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NACB) (49% and 30%, respectively).