The commission overseeing the selection of the chair of the Bureau of Economic Security (BEB) – a newly established anti-corruption and financial monitoring agency – has pushed back against the Cabinet of Ministers’ demand to restart the competition, reaffirming its choice of Oleksandr Tsyvinskyi despite pressure from the government.
The Cabinet of Ministers refused to appoint Tsyvinskyi, who was elected through a competitive process. Instead, it demanded an effective restart of the competition, citing a Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) warning that Tsyvinskyi’s father has Russian citizenship.
However, this move sparked widespread backlash.
Many experts believe that Tsyvinskyi, who has led several high-profile anti-corruption cases – such as the 2015 purchase of backpacks at inflated prices for the National Guard and Operation “Clean City” to detain Kyiv City State Administration officials over land transactions – does not meet the central government’s criteria due to his independence and alignment with international members of the commission.
However, even the Ukrainian members of the commission who previously hadn’t supported Tsyvinskyi now stand behind him.
“Everything was conducted according to legislation, including the law on BEB. The law does not allow decisions at this stage, and we cannot revert to any previous phase of the competition,” Laura Stefan, the Head of the commission, said.
Stefan added that Tsyvinskyi’s father’s Russian citizenship has been known for at least two years, was not hidden, and didn’t prevent Tsyvinksyi from working at the National Anti-Corruption Bureau.
Some applauded the commission’s decision to stand its ground.
“It turned out that the government did not have any new letters from the SBU. They made this illegal decision solely based on the letter from the SBU, which stated that there was something about the three candidates regarding relatives with probable citizenship of the Russian Federation. That’s all,” Yaroslav Zheleznyak, MP from the Holos party, wrote on his Facebook.
“The competition committee defended the BEB competition, and we did not try in vain... Now the Cabinet of Ministers is obliged to appoint Tsyvinskyi,” Martyna Boguslavets, an expert and former legal adviser to the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee, said.From now on, the government must approve the elected head of the BEB.
However, against the background of rumors about the possible resignation of Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal this week (who has headed the Cabinet of Ministers since spring 2020 – the longest of all Ukrainian prime ministers), the issue of appointing Tsyvinskyi may again be postponed until the formation of a new government.