© ZN.UA According to Oleksandr Tsyvinsky, if the tools necessary for the operation of the BEB are taken away, then the thesis about the siege will be confirmed by facts.
BEB Director Oleksandr Tsyvinskyi claims that he knows how to neutralize the corruption back office from the inside, which has always worked at BEB, but is supervised from Bankova Street. Another external factor is the politically appointed Prosecutor General, who was one of the drivers of limiting the independence of NABU and SAPO, and a very sensitive Ministry of Justice. In an interview with ZN.UA, BEB Director Oleksandr Tsyvinskyi spoke about this issue, with whom Inna Vedernikova and Yulia Samayeva spoke.
“ Law and truth will conquer all. NABU confirmed , – says Tsywinski . – “Thank God, I have not received any illegal instructions today. We had a constructive conversation with the Prosecutor General, and I hope for effective cooperation. At the moment, I cannot say that something is going wrong. We had a meaningful conversation with the Prime Minister, and a clear assurance was given: where possible, effective interaction will be ensured. I have active communication with the Ministry of Justice . “
But according to him , there are no results at the moment, because it has only just begun . “ Within a month, the situation will become absolutely clear — whether we are under siege or not, ” said the head of BEB.
At the same time, he emphasizes that a state at war needs an effective Bureau of Economic Security. After all, the effective work of the Bureau means filling the budget with its own resources, and not only with the money of partners. And the principle here is that money comes to the budget not only when someone is brought to justice and unpaid taxes or VAT are reimbursed through the court.
“I believe that evaluating the work of the BEB solely based on these indicators is a wrong approach. This reduces the body to narrow, often artificial statistics and turns it into a punitive instrument. Instead, efficiency should be calculated in a “smart way”. For example, if changes in legislation have been introduced due to the work of the BEB or schemes have been identified in certain segments, we can calculate how much real tax revenues have increased. This is the true criterion of effectiveness,” Tsyvinsky added.
Therefore, the BEB director added, he believes in goodness, justice, and victory, even if it sounds too optimistic. Tsywinski also believes that even when someone does not want to cooperate, a consensus can still be reached.
” And if not, I definitely won't keep quiet about it. If there is a systemic problem, you will find out about it immediately, and not in two years with the explanation that “we were not given it”. We do everything to ensure that the work is productive and constructive, without unnecessary conflicts. Because most people strive to defeat the enemy, and for this you need to fill the budget,” adds Tsyvinsky.
In response to the remark that the BEB does not even need to curtail its independence, like the NABU and SAPO, because the Bureau does not have it anyway, Tsyvinsky noted that the key issue here is who becomes a party to the cases of these bodies. He said that the NABU and SAPO deal with top officials – ministers, heads of Central Executive Committees, deputies, judges of the Supreme Court. While the BEB works in a different plane, although, of course, the authorities also have interests here.
” But I would like society and journalists to give us some time to work, including under the guidance of the Prosecutor General . After all, serious results are not achieved in a month. It's like the Clean City operation – it takes years, although in our case the process will be faster. But it is already clear: the budget is lacking, international funding is not unlimited, and if we do not start effective work, it could be a disaster. Therefore, I do not share categorical pessimism. We have a chance,” the BEB director noted.
As a reminder, on August 6 – after a scandal that lasted a month and a half – the government finally appointed Oleksandr Tsyvinsky as the director of the Bureau of Economic Security. The competition commission elected Tsyvinsky as the director of the BEB back on June 24. But on July 7 it became known that the government decided to reject this decision. After some time, the commission re-submitted the corresponding candidacy – allegedly, Tsyvinsky fully meets the requirements stipulated by the law – and stopped working.
Martyna Bohuslavets, the head of the Anti-Corruption Center “Border”, said that the OP prevented the appointment of any of the two representatives of the newly independent NABU as the director of the BEB, although these candidates had the least questions about their integrity. In her article “They are trying to disrupt the competition for the selection of the BEB director through the courts,” Bohuslavets analyzed the scheme to block the long-awaited reboot of the bureau.
