New anti-graft agency chief names his priority tasks in office
Semen Kryvonos was appointed the new director of NABU (Photo:Скріншот відео Семен Кривонос/Facebook)
Semen Kryvonos, the newly appointed head of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), said he would be open to civil society and would make efforts to develop the agency.
In his video address posted on Facebook on March 6, Kryvonos said he would consider the main indicator of the effectiveness of his work if “every corrupt person, before thinking about committing a corruption crime, fears God, the people of Ukraine and NABU.”
“I will remain open to civil society, journalists, professional organizations, and international partners,” he said.
“It is an honor for me to have the opportunity to work with NABU’s professional and well-coordinated team. I will make every effort to preserve the independence and development of the institution.”
The activists claim that Kryvonos’s wife, Halyna Polshynska, served as the head of the security department for the first deputy head of the Kyiv City State Administration, headed by Kuleba at that time.
Kryvonos also has connections with Tymur Tkachenko, Kuleba’s former business partner in Asper Estate LLC. In the income declaration for 2018, Tkachenko pointed out that he used the apartment in Kyiv owned by Kryvonos’s wife.
The AntAC also said that Kryvonos’s declarations state that he has been using an Audi Q5 car, owned by Tkachenko’s wife, since January 1, 2018. At the same time, in the declaration for 2019, Kryvonos no longer indicated the owners of the car.
Activists reiterated that Tkachenko and Kuleba had recently managed the Kyiv City State Administration’s Public Works Department. After Kuleba was promoted from the post of department head to deputy head of the Kyiv City State Administration in 2021, the department was headed by Tkachenko’s first deputy and exporter.
“What should we do with this?” the activists said.
“For us at the AntAC, this is a reason to continue to carefully monitor the work of NABU. And if we notice any hint at the President’s Office having a hand in this, we will hit both this hand and the one reaching for it. We’re sure that the new director is perfectly aware of this.”
On March 6, Ukraine’s government appointed Semen Kryvonos as new NABU head.
The NABU has been working without a permanent head since April 2022 after the Cabinet of Ministers voted to dismiss former NABU Director Artem Sytnyk. Gizo Uglava, Sytnyk’s deputy head, was appointed as the acting head of the agency.
Ukraine promised the International Monetary Fund and the European Union that it would appoint a new NABU head by April 2023.
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