Candidates to State Bureau of Investigation selected with violations – Reanimation Package of Reforms initiative

The experts of the Reanimation Package of Reforms initiative speak about violations of the law in the work of the commission for the selection of the senior leadership of the State Bureau of Investigation.

This is said in the released statement of the Reanimation Package of Reforms (RPR) initiative.

The RPR reminds that the selection of candidates for positions of the Director of the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) and his deputies is approaching to an important first stage, in which the fate of candidates for these positions will depend on the decision of the competition commission. Its members plan to begin to interview candidates on November 14.

At the same time, the RPR experts note the presence of direct violations of the requirements of legislation in the competition committee, which could prevent the timely and transparent formation of the State Bureau of Investigation. After all, any decision of the commission taken in this membership could be challenged in court.

In particular, pursuant to Part 3 of Article 11 of the Law of Ukraine “On the State Bureau of Investigation”, the members of the competition commission shall be persons with higher legal education. At the same time, two members, Vladyslav Bukharev (MP, delegated by the Verkhovna Rada) and Ivan Stoyko (advisor to Interior Minister, delegated by Cabinet) can not confirm whether they have such degree.

The participation of these members in the competition commission in conducting interviews and making further decisions casts doubt on the legitimacy of the whole process of appointing SBI’s leadership.

In addition, despite the direct requirement of Article 11 of the Law “On the State Bureau of Investigation,” so far the Commission has not published CVs and tax returns of candidates.

The lack of free access to information about the candidates precludes the possibility of an independent assessment of candidates for members of the public for the presence of corruption risks and other negative factors.

Also, the competition committee decided to not only not to allow members of the public for independent observing the competition, but also at its meeting on November 7 refused to make public the results of testing of candidates.

Taking into account all the abovementioned, the RPR calls on:

The Verkhovna Rada and the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to immediately replace a part of the competition commission members, who were delegated by them and who do not meet the criteria defined by law;

The competition commission to immediately disclose all the information on the candidates, as required by law, and the results of testing of candidates.