Rebooting The Economic Security Bureau Of Ukraine: The System Won’t Change Due To The Reshuffling Of Law Enforcement Officers

It's been six weeks since Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with business, promising the latter new approaches and the long-awaited reboot of the Economic Security Bureau Of Ukraine. In a month... Well, apparently this is not how the business imagined this reboot.

And besides, the ineffective Economic Security Bureau Of Ukraine has been without a full-fledged leadership for the third week in general. Andriy Pashchuk, the “fresh” deputy director of the Bureau, was just appointed, as the two previous co-heads – Eduard Fedorov and Vitalii Hahach – went on vacation. And later, in two weeks, at least one of them will immediately go on sick leave. And, according to ZN.UA, they will not return from vacation and sick leave. Therefore, we will try to explain why and why someone in the president's office turned the Economic Security Bureau Of Ukraine into a chessboard.

Let me remind you that the first head of the aforementioned law enforcement agency was a former tax police officer, Vadym Melnyk. His leadership was as inglorious as Roman Truba’s attempt to launch the State Bureau of Investigation. But while the latter, since the body was not under single control, but quasi-collegial, was “managed" by Truba in a certain parity with his deputies, the Economic Security Bureau Of Ukraine was controlled without deputies. Therefore, Melnyk could not expect success a priori. He was “given two crutches” in the form of deputies – first Hahach, and later Fedorov.

More to come. After the work of the Economic Security Bureau Of Ukraine did not live up to expectations and did not bring money to the budget, in April 2023 the director of the Bureau, who headed the body since August 2021, was dismissed. Melnyk’s dismissal took place against the background of months-long discussions on the restart of the Economic Security Bureau Of Ukraine. This was discussed as early as the fall of 2022, when parliamentary committees sent conclusions about the unsatisfactory work of the Bureau to the Cabinet of Ministers. The essence of the claims is simple. The Bureau was created as a single body dealing with economic crimes, with a powerful analytical component. Whereas everyone, except the newly created Bureau, is still engaged in “economics,” since former tax policemen with odious Security Service officers settled there. They failed in the analytical direction, but skillfully revived their usual work methods. As a result, more than 90% of the open criminal proceedings of the Economic Security Bureau Of Ukraine do not end up in court but simply result in an invitation for business “to a conversation.” So, probably, there are reasons to change something.

Subsequently, a group of people’s deputies submitted draft law No. 9080 on rebooting the mentioned law enforcement agency. The changes proposed by the draft law relate to the procedure for appointing a director. According to its provisions, also within a year after the appointment of the head of the Bureau, all employees are subject to attestation.

Meanwhile, it should be recognized that already during the leadership of Fedorov and Hahach, the results improved significantly. Although, let’s be honest, the business representatives had and still have questions about the Bureau, the latest report of the business ombudsman does not praise it. But at least serious cases have started to move in Bureau, for example, the investigation against Kolomoisky’s Ukrtatnafta or Firtash’s Regional Gas Company. However, in the middle of July, both Fedorov and Hahach abruptly "left the distance". As of today, we have reliable information that Fedorov and Hahach have written resignations, and the decision has been made at Bankova. Therefore, the question arises: who would the office of the president like to see as the director of the Bureau?

Today, the authorities have two suitable candidates for the position of the head of the Economic Security Bureau Of Ukraine. Oleh Syniehubov, the head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration, is called the key contender. As a governor, according to the president, he has proven himself positively, has shown that he is trustworthy. According to our information, Oleksandr Trukhin was driving from Syniehubov with a large amount of cash when he got into a sensational road accident.

The second contender for the “throne” in the Bureau is the already mentioned Andrii Pashchuk. By the way, according to our sources, he was recommended to the Bureau by the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, Oleksiy Danilov himself. But it is clear that this decision went through Tatarov. Therefore, it is currently difficult to say that he is 100% Tatarov’s person, although Pashchuk worked in the structures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs during the time of Yanukovych’s minister Zakharchenko. But linear inferences are not our style of analysis. Let me remind you that in those days Tatarov himself worked under the leadership of the former Minister of Internal Affairs.

And what about the Bureau itself? First of all, Pashchuk is already fully engaged in work and does not pay attention to the position of the same so-called director Fedorov, who is currently on sick leave. Competitions continue, but neither Hahach’s people nor Fedorov’s people are appointed. Pashchuk fulfills the whims of the president’s office — he makes all decisions on his own, regardless of the duo of previous officers, currently still, serving as managers. The central apparatus of the Bureau, namely its employees, do not really understand what is happening, so they are employing the “Italian strike”. In fact, the Council of Public Control is not involved in competitive selections, this is not our guess, but the position of its members.

In addition, global problems of the functioning of the Economic Security Bureau Of Ukraine remain. Up to 900 employees have been recruited, which is definitely not enough. Funding for even this number of detectives, analysts and others will only last until mid-September. How can you choose someone else? How to pay the salaries of law enforcement officers? Promises? Another thing is re-certification. For re-certification, again, funds will be needed. Why? Because if they are fired, then, as noted in the Council of Public Control, it will be necessary to pay severance pay. Again, from what funds?

Now about the suspension of Fedorov and Hahach. Why did Bankova make such a decision? Because President Zelenskyy was visited by someone from “big business”, most likely, it was representatives of international structures that pointed out the criminal actions of this duo. We haven’t heard any details or public scandals in the last few months. The guarantor of the Constitution called Tatarov, who in turn promised to sort it out. As a result, Pashchuk is approved, Fedorov and Gagach are denied. Regardless of whether this is right or wrong, we state: Tatarov took it upon himself to solve the problem, gave certain instructions, and also added that in case of serious complaints to the Economic Security Bureau Of Ukraine, there will be a complete reset of the management team. As if the previous claims were not enough...

As a result, draft law No. 9080 is simply resting at the parliament, a specialized temporary investigative commission headed by people’s deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak is working, competitions are being held to fill vacant positions in the BEB, two previous heads are on vacation and on sick leave, Yermak’s deputy Oleg Tatarov promised the president to "figure it out" , but actually constructs a new configuration of controlled investigations of financial crimes by the office of the president. Here we go again...

And then everyone can be very surprised by the final chords of this law enforcement symphony. Especially if you listen to the voices of high-ranking officials from the criminal justice system, you can hear that the head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Vasyl Malyuk, is being induced to become the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and Oleksiy Sukhachov, who did not pass re-attestation at the prosecutor’s office in 2019, wants to be transferred to the customs office. Political quackery of the highest order, and if you put aside the potential story with Malyuk, who is somehow not the worst head of the “office”, then the rest of the candidates look, to put it mildly, strange.

Bankova never understood that by exchanging professionalism for loyalty, you can lose control over any processes in the state.

In a world where everything changes at lightning speed, and the situation at the front does not allow for gross mistakes, people who are able to look at problems from different angles are especially valued. This is what is called a helicopter view – to take and use a broad view, to compare various received data, to be able to focus on details, “seeing the forest for the trees.”