Kyiv spurns suggested head of economic crimes bureau, setting up clash with Western partners

The Ukrainian government is facing a sharp backlash after rejecting a candidate picked by an independent commission to lead an agency tasked with investigating economic crimes.

The Bureau of Economic Security was created in 2021 but has been accused of extorting businesses. In recent years, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund have made reform of the bureau a condition for continued aid payments.

As part of the reform process, an independent commission chose Oleksandr Tsyvinskyi, an anti-corruption detective who earlier this year exposed a major land corruption case in Kyiv, to lead the bureau.

But on Monday the government announced it would not appoint Tsyvinskyi to the position and instead asked the commission to pick two other candidates.

Civil society groups and lawmakers say the government’s actions are illegal, threaten the independence of law enforcement, and jeopardize international aid — just as Ukrainian officials head from Kyiv to Rome to tout the country’s reforms and plead for more funding at a major recovery conference.

While the bureau was created partly to prevent law enforcement from extorting businesses, Bohdan Slutsky of Ukraine’s Centre for Economic Strategy think tank said nothing had changed in practice since its founding.

A reform passed by the country’s parliament last year gave the bureau another shot, but critics say the government has now derailed it by refusing to confirm Tsyvinskyi.

Dozens of Ukrainian anti-corruption activists, leading business associations and economic think tanks have urged Zelenskyy and the government to reverse course and appoint Tsyvinskyi to the post.

In addition to the need to follow the law and observe due process, Slutsky said, without reform and in the wrong hands, the agency will continue subjecting firms to costly legal battles, unjustified raids and bureaucratic harassment.

Source: Politico