President Zelensky’s recent clampdown on Ukraine’s anti-corruption organisations was planned in secret by a “tight circle” of officials, the head of one of the agencies has warned.
Oleksandr Klymenko, the director of Sapo, the office of the anti-corruption prosecutor, said attempts by dishonest politicians, civil servants and security figures to muzzle organisations such as his would continue even if their independence were restored in a vote in Ukraine’s parliament on Thursday.
Rare protests broke out across Ukraine last week after Zelensky approved a law that brought Sapo and Nabu, the national anti-corruption bureau, under the control of the prosecutor-general, who answers to the president. The agencies have investigated several highly placed officials, including people close to the president.
“This was [a] massive, deliberately planned attack by all law enforcement agencies against the anti-corruption system,” Klymenko told The Times during an interview in Kyiv. A former senior police investigator, Klymenko, 38, became head of Sapo soon after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
“The main thing was to take control of all our investigations in order to have information about where we are investigating, what we are investigating and what stage we are at… to protect people from criminal liability,” he said on the eve of a crucial vote that could reverse Zelensky’s decision.
Nabu and Sapo were created with support from the United States and European countries after the Maidan revolution in 2014 that toppled Viktor Yanukovych, Ukraine’s corrupt, pro-Moscow president. The organisations were tasked with rooting out deep-seated corruption and granted wide-ranging autonomy to ensure that crooked officials could not interfere with their work. President Putin alleged on the eve of Russia’s invasion that the existence of Nabu and Sapo was proof that Ukraine was a western puppet state.
Protests broke out in Ukraine after a vote on reducing the powers of Nabu, the national anti-corruption bureau
YULIIA OVSIANNIKOVA/UKRINFORM
The move against the organisations was widely seen in Ukraine and Europe as a sign that Zelensky was backtracking on democracy. The president moved swiftly to calm tensions, announcing that parliament would vote on Thursday on a new law to restore their independence.
His decision came as Brussels said that Nabu and Sapo’s ability to operate without interference was key to Kyiv’s bid to join the European Union.
The EU also said that it would withhold €1.5 billion of an aid package of €4.5 billion over delays in implementing reforms.
Thursday’s vote is likely to be tight but the measure to guard the anti-corruption bodies’ independence is expected to pass with a slim majority. However, Klymenko said that even if it did pass, Nabu and Sapo’s enemies would continue to exert pressure on the agencies in the form of smear campaigns and other dirty tricks.
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“No one has backed down from their plans to … prevent us from working effectively,” he said. “The only agency that makes top officials afraid of carrying out corrupt actions is Nabu. The main thing about our work is the enormous preventive effect it has.”
Zelensky said the law was essential to ensure that the organisations’ work was not influenced by Russian agents. Two Nabu officials were arrested last week over suspected ties with Moscow.
Klymenko said that the charges were pressed without “sufficient evidence”. He also said the arrests had a chilling effect on the work of the anti-corruption groups, as well as their sources.
“A Nabu detective has already refused to investigate a sensitive case because he was concerned that he might be targeted,” he said. “Whistleblowers have also suspended cooperation with us because they are worried that their identities could be leaked.”
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Oleksiy Chernyshov, at the time a deputy prime minister, was charged by Nabu last month with accepting bribes for granting approval for construction projects. One of Zelensky’s closest friends, he was arrested but released on bail. He lost his post when Zelensky reshuffled his government this month.
After the charges against Chernyshov, Zelensky’s office instructed law enforcement “to do everything possible to destroy the influence of Nabu and Sapo,” according to sources cited by the Ukrainska Pravda website.
Klymenko also said that of Ukraine’s allies, the US had invested the most in the work of anti-corruption agencies in the country, but Washington’s interest had now decreased “significantly”.
“This is one of the reasons why this attack was possible,” he said. He urged the EU and other western countries to step up their support for the agencies. “Only our international partners can pressure our authorities,” he said.
Nabu and Sapo have overseen anti-corruption cases involving the head of Ukraine’s anti-monopoly committee, the chief justice of the supreme court and over 70 current and former MPs. In addition, they have exposed embezzlement within the defence ministry and the ministry of agrarian policy.
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Nabu had also looked into the activities of Rostyslav Shurma, a close friend of the Zelensky family, after his brother was investigated for embezzling state funds, it has been reported. It was also preparing to name Tymur Mindich, the co-owner of Zelensky’s Kvartal 95 entertainment production company, as a suspect in a corruption case, according to reports. Mindich is believed to have left Ukraine for Austria, while Shurma is thought to be in Germany.
Semen Kryvonos, the director of Nabu, told the RFE/RL website last week that unnamed “evil” forces were plotting to carry out more attacks on both organisations. When asked on Wednesday, if he believed that Zelensky had initiated the campaign against the agencies, Klymenko said that people should “draw their own conclusions.”
The agencies were warned in advance by sources that they would be targeted, Klymenko said, but they did not know precisely what form the attack would take and were surprised when the bill depriving them of their autonomy was introduced to parliament. “Some of the MPs who voted for the legislation hadn’t even read it,” he said.