“On February 10, during a briefing, the heads of NABU and SAP spoke about the pressure on anti-corruption bodies, attempts to illegally monitor detectives, corruption in the defense industry and the direct connection between embezzlement and losses at the front. Director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau Semen Kryvonos and Head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office Oleksandr Klymenko presented the report on the work for the second half of 2025. Most”, — write on: ua.news
About the pressure on anti-corruption bodies, attempts to illegally monitor detectives, corruption in the defense industry and the direct connection between embezzlement and losses at the front spoke On February 10, during a briefing, the heads of NABU and SAP. Director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau Semen Kryvonos and Head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office Oleksandr Klymenko presented the report on the work for the second half of 2025.
The most talked about was corruption, multimillion-dollar schemes in the defense and energy sectors, as well as attempts to put pressure on anti-corruption bodies by other law enforcement agencies. According to the heads of NABU and SAP, the intensity of these attacks only increased at the end of 2025 — just when the investigations reached “sensitive” levels for influential groups.
Pressure on detectives
One of the loudest statements came from Semen Kryvonos: an attempt to illegally install wiretapping equipment in the office of the head of the NABU division. The unit deals with cases related to fraud in the procurement of UAVs, and the head is part of the group of detectives in the “Midas” case.
Kryvonos said: representatives of another law enforcement agency were involved in this.
“This is part of a wider pressure on anti-corruption agencies that has intensified in recent weeks. We have information about the structures behind this and even specific names.” he emphasized.
According to the Director of the Bureau, outsiders acted without any court decision.
The Midas Case
NABU is currently working with approximately ten foreign jurisdictions, including EU countries and Israel, to obtain data on financial transactions, accounts, and assets of those involved. Kryvonos emphasized that the investigation is in an active phase, but the details are not disclosed for procedural reasons: collection of evidence, examinations and waiting for answers to requests for international legal assistance are ongoing.
“We expect new details, we will communicate with Ukrainian society. We are just trying to communicate carefully now, at this stage – this is related to certain points regarding the collection of the evidence base, conducting relevant examinations, receiving answers from international jurisdictions, communication with international partners” — explained the director of NABU.
At the same time, he emphasized: in this case, “this is definitely not the point.” Regarding the extradition of Timur Mindich, the main figure in the case, who is currently in Israel, the relevant procedures are ongoing, but it is a complex and long-term process.
The work has improved, but it can be even better
Another painful topic is interaction with State Financial Monitoring. The director of NABU admitted that after the story about the blocking of requests by anti-corruption bodies became public, financial monitoring began to react more quickly. It was because of this that a significant amount of money planned as bail in the Midas case was blocked, and one of the suspects is still in custody.
“Finmonitoring blocked this amount of funds because it noticed suspicion of legalization, therefore one of the suspects remains in custody (Ihor Myronyuk, ex-adviser of the Minister of Energy, is in custody, for whom the court predicted pledge in the amount of UAH 126 million. — ed.). Also we were given information where did the funds come from for the other defendants and it is already being processed by detectives and prosecutors” Kryvonos said
At the same time, the head of SAP Oleksandr Klymenko was much more critical: according to him, the potential of financial monitoring is not fully used, and this structure could monitor the movement of funds much more actively and inform the investigation.
Where are the verdicts?
Separately, the heads of NABU and SAP responded to objections regarding the lack of verdicts in high-profile cases. Kryvonos and Klymenko emphasized that the problem is systemic in nature. We are talking about multi-volume cases with a large number of participants, financial examinations and international elements, as well as the overloading of the High Anti-Corruption Court. Klymenko gave an illustrative example, when the court considered a procedural issue for a year and a half, for which ten days were set aside by law. At the same time, both leaders emphasized that sentencing is the exclusive competence of the court, not detectives or prosecutors.
“Neither prosecutors nor detectives issue sentences. Our task is to gather evidence and take the case to court. The final decision is solely the competence of VAX” Kryvonos emphasized.
Statistics of work of NABU and SAP for the II half of 2025
- 367 new criminal investigations
- 103 persons received the status of suspects
- 55 indictments were submitted to the court
- 126 accused
- 70 convicts
- The economic effect is more than UAH 4.9 billion
In total, in 2025, the courts handed down 108 guilty verdicts in NABU and SAP cases. Among the convicts are not only “minor executors”, but also the former head of the Federal Tax Service, the head of the State Judicial Administration, and current people’s deputies. Currently, 41 sitting deputies are suspected of corruption crimes, which, according to the heads of anti-corruption bodies, is an unprecedented indicator for the Ukrainian legal system.
And yet there is one telling absence in these statistics. It will soon be two years since the moment discovery criminal proceedings regarding the illegal enrichment of the former deputy general prosecutor of Ukraine Dmytro Verbytskyi. During this time, the case never entered the phase of publicly visible procedural actions: the assets that appear in journalistic investigations and conclusions of the NAKC, no arrests were made, suspicion was not announced, preventive measures were not chosen.
The case is there, there is no action
May 13, 2024 NABU opened criminal proceedings under Article 368-5 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (illegal enrichment). However, almost two years after that, no suspicions were announced, no searches were conducted, and no assets were seized.
Verbytskyi left his post amid loud publications about his financial situation. Formally – at your own will. In fact, after a full check of the official’s declarations. According to its results, the NAKC established signs of illegal enrichment in the amount of more than UAH 30 million and unreliable information in the amount of another UAH 2.38 million. However, the resignation did not affect the quality of his life.
While the criminal proceedings are in a state of protracted pause, the former deputy prosecutor general managed to enter politics, to lead party cell, deploy charity activity and, according to sources and investigators, to save influence on separate business processes in Odesa, in particular in the field port logistics In the public space, Verbytsky also Mr feels quite comfortable: leads an active social life, regularly appears at events and even writes blogs for all-Ukrainian news sites.
Verbytskyi — a living reminder to anti-corruption bodies that despite their demonstrable effectiveness, they have cases without a logical conclusion.
Serhii Vlasenko was previously the head of the TSK for investigating corruption in judicial and law enforcement bodies addressed attention to the public “merger” of anti-corruption bodies.
“NABU, SAP and VAKS: with all due respect to these organizations, it is not clear to me why their leaders appear everywhere together. The key task of SAP is to monitor the work of NABU. That is, one controls the other. Trainings, press conferences, work trips — there were cases when they were joined by VAKS judges. The detective who investigates the proceedings, the prosecutor who supervises, and the judge who considers the case cannot be in the same room. In civilized Europe, such a union is called a violation of the rules of ethics. Pay attention to how Magomedrasulov, while in court, said: “Give greetings to all of us – NABU, SAP and VAKS.” If they are “all ours,” how can they control each other? — declared Vlasenko.
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