Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine: What’s Next?

Since its creation in 2021, the Bureau of Economic Security (BEB) has faced a rocky start. The BEB is tasked with tackling financial crimes such as fraud, tax evasion, smuggling, and money laundering. Its performance has been poor enough to prompt a parliamentary investigation by the Verkhovna Rada. The agency has been entangled in multiple scandals, including a high-profile case in which BEB detectives were caught concealing criminal activity. That incident led to the resignation of the BEB director in 2023, followed by a string of acting directors struggling to stabilize the organization.

In June 2024, the Verkhovna Rada passed reforms to improve the BEB, introducing international oversight of the selection process to ensure transparency and credibility. A new commission was formed, made up equally of Ukrainian and international experts. The commission began by reviewing 43 candidates, later narrowing the pool to 16 following a general aptitude test.

Among the remaining candidates is Attila Kovchi, a prosecutor from the Office of the Prosecutor General. Kovchi had previously applied for the BEB director role when the Bureau was first established. In an interview with Kyiv Post, Kovchi outlined his plan to reform the troubled agency and restore public trust.

Kyiv Post: How do you assess the current situation in the Bureau of Economic Security? And why is the BEB so important?

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Attila Kovchi: There is no doubt that the BEB is currently in the midst of a crisis of confidence. Non-transparent competitions for positions in the BEB with pre-determined winners, refusal to provide online video broadcasts of the competition stages, abuses in appointment procedures with simultaneous transfers to another position, an open conflict with the Public Control Council, which led to the self-removal of its members from participation in the competition procedures, appointment of persons with dubious origin of wealth to senior positions, the lack of proper communication with the Verkhovna Rada committees, other ministries and agencies, poor performance and suspicion of some political bias – all of this expectedly led first to the conclusions of the Temporary Investigation Commission on the unsatisfactory work of the management, and then to a complete reboot of the BEB.

The Bureau has two main functions: analytical and law enforcement. Regarding law enforcement: currently, about 80% of criminal proceedings under the Bureau’s jurisdiction are investigated by investigators from other agencies. The reasons for this situation need to be analyzed in detail, but one of them is obvious: out of 23 territorial departments of the Bureau, only 9 are operational, so no full-fledged performance of this function is possible. As for the analytical function: The Bureau should become the National Coordinator in the field of economic security of the state. So far, no steps have been taken in this direction. All analytical activities of the Bureau are limited to writing probabilistic analytical conclusions, which later serve as the basis for registration of criminal proceedings on tax evasion and appeals for cancellation of public procurement procedures.

There is no information on strategic planning of the Bureau’s activities, assessment of risks and threats in the economy, capabilities and vulnerabilities of the BEB, prioritization of economic sectors, their analysis at the operational and tactical levels. Nothing has been done to create a unified information system of the BEB, although this task is directly defined by the relevant law.

Given the expectations that were placed on the Bureau when the Law was adopted in 2021, the crucial role of the Bureau in protecting the economic interests of the state, improving the business environment and investment attractiveness of Ukraine, I agree that the reboot of the BEB was the only way out of this situation.

KP: What concrete steps will you take to investigate and prosecute corruption in the BEB?

AK:  In the direction you mentioned, it is necessary to implement a set of planned measures, among which I will highlight the three most important ones:

Firstly, among other important innovations, the Law on the BEB reboot introduced internal control units at the central office and territorial offices of the Bureau, as well as defined their powers. During the first week of my tenure as Director, these units will be established, the necessary documents will be approved, and a competition will be announced to fill the newly created units with experienced employees with an impeccable reputation. In the future, for each fact of possible violation of the law by the BEB employees for the entire period of its activity, I will appoint internal investigations, which may result in disciplinary liability or the basis for registration of criminal proceedings.

Secondly, the Law defines the procedure for a one-time certification of the Bureau’s employees within 18 months from the date of appointment of the Director. I am convinced that the procedure of mandatory one-time appraisal should be started immediately after the newly created internal control units start operating, as this approach will allow the appraisal committee to have at its disposal maximum objective information about each employee of the Bureau. Based on the results of the appraisal, it will become clear how many new employees there should be and for which positions they should be selected in the course of the following competitive procedures.

Thirdly, during my term, I intend to ensure proper information exchange and organizational support for the activities of the bodies whose activities may be aimed at exposing dishonest employees of the Bureau – the prosecutor’s office, the Security Service of Ukraine, the State Bureau of Investigation, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the National Police. This is my public position.

KP: The BEB’s recruitment practices have been criticized for lack of transparency. How do you plan to reform the personnel policy to ensure fairness and transparency?

AK: By carefully fulfilling the requirements of the law.

When I participated in the competition for the position of the BEB Director in 2021, I intended to include a provision on blocking votes of the Public Oversight Council in the procedure for holding the competition for positions in the BEB. Let me explain: if all three members of the competition commission delegated by the Public Oversight Council voted against a certain candidate, this would result in the termination of his or her participation in the competition. The BEB Reset Law actually implemented this provision, albeit in a different form, as it defined a special procedure for the formation and operation of personnel commissions for the first three years of the newly elected Director’s tenure, based on a formula that eliminates the decisive influence of the commission members appointed by the Director.

As for the general requirements for competitive procedures, they include maximum openness and transparency, including, inter alia, a ban on holding any stage of the competition or certification without online video broadcasting; publication of the results of each stage of testing or interview on the Bureau’s official website on the day of the stage; high requirements for general abilities and knowledge of the law. Thus, the test for the position of detective will contain approximately 10,000 questions on criminal, criminal procedure, civil, tax, customs, budget, financial, public procurement, and anti-money laundering legislation, etc.

Finally, the interview with the selection committee to assess the candidate’s compliance with the criteria of integrity and professional competence, approve the final rating of candidates and appoint them to the positions.

I am convinced that careful implementation of the law through the relevant procedures is the only way to gradually restore public and business confidence in the Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine.

KP: Why should ordinary citizens, who often feel like victims of pressure from law enforcement agencies, support your candidacy?

AK: The vision with which I am running for the position of BEB Director offers a qualitatively new model of relations between citizens, business and law enforcement agencies.

The introduction of a new, risk-oriented model of law enforcement in the BEB will allow the law enforcement agency to be smarter and more effective in realizing its unique capabilities, to begin to truly systematically influence the criminal environment through crime prevention, and not just fight it in a separate painstaking investigation of an event that has already occurred.

The radical improvement of the Bureau’s institutional capabilities will result in the disruption of various schemes of embezzlement of budget funds, tax and customs evasion worth billions of hryvnias, filling the state and local budgets, and gradually improving Ukraine’s investment attractiveness.

KP: What fundamental operational changes should be a priority for the Bureau?

AK: The changes will affect almost all areas of the Bureau’s activities, but I consider the following to be the most important.

Changes in the field of human resources: thorough certification of all staff and revolutionary changes in the BEB’s approach to recruitment through compliance with the procedures set out in the relevant law. Expected result: restoration of trust and respect for the BEB.

Changes in analytical activities: the formation of full-fledged analytical units will begin, their tasks and limits of competence will be correctly defined, and continuous training and professional development will be organized in line with international best practices. Expected result: significant strengthening of the Bureau’s information and analytical capabilities.

Fundamental changes in the approaches to law enforcement activities of the Bureau, which will continue to be based on the principles of a risk-oriented approach. Expected result: prevention of unjustified pressure on business.

KP: What should the Bureau look like in five years, and is there an international organization you would like to look up to?

AK: The Bureau of Economic Security of 2030 is a powerful, analytical law enforcement agency that has all the information and is armed with analytical conclusions on economic processes and public finances, is the National Coordinator in the field of economic security of Ukraine, is able to effectively counteract criminal manifestations in the economy, within its competence to provide sound recommendations to government and local authorities, enjoys the trust and respect of society, and is respected by other law enforcement agencies.

Since Ukraine has its own unique regulatory legislation and business environment, has its own peculiarities in the structure of the crime environment, etc., I do not think that the Bureau will eventually become a domestic copy of one of its foreign counterparts. I am carefully studying the positive experience of several foreign law enforcement agencies in the financial sector, among which the Italian Guardia di Finanza is currently the most impressive to me.

KP: What guarantees can you offer to Ukrainian citizens and international partners about your priorities if you are appointed as Director?

AK: I publicly declare my position, vision, values and principles on which the Bureau’s activities will be based under my leadership. Among other things, in the near future I plan to publish and submit to the competition commission the List of Measures to Restart, Restore Trust and Improve the Activities of the Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine, which contains detailed algorithms for the actions of the head of the Bureau in various areas of its activities: personnel, analytical, law enforcement, etc.

In addition, I intend to publish information about the persons to be appointed by me to the positions of First Deputy and Deputy Directors before the interview with the competition commission. The high professionalism and impeccable reputation of the future leadership of the Bureau will be the best illustration of the values, principles and real intentions of our team.

As BEB activities continue to be closely monitored by the public, business, government agencies and international partners, any deviation from the declared values and steps will rightly result in the resignation of the BEB Director.