Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers has not approved the nominee Oleksandr Tsyvinsky to become head of the country’s Bureau of Economic Security (BEB). Two weeks ago, Tsyvinsky was elected as the new BEB chairman by virtue of receiving the most votes from commission members among candidates – three.
Under the terms of the election none of the applicants, according to the terms of the competition, received the necessary four votes. Therefore, according to the law, the candidate who received three votes from the international members of the commission was elected.
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However, on the evening of July 7, the government refused to appoint Tsyvinsky, saying: “The government has studied additional materials provided, in particular, by the Security Service of Ukraine, which relate to national security issues and contain appropriate security assessments... members of the government unanimously decided to apply to the commission for the selection of the director of BEB with a proposal to re-submit no more than two candidates who will meet all the established requirements, including security criteria.”
This decision has angered the Ukrainian public – Kyiv Post examines why.
What is the BEB?
The Bureau of Economic Security, BEB, was created in the spring of 2021 as an anti-corruption watchdog body, one of several new institutions designed to replace former inefficient law enforcement and regulatory structures considered susceptible to corruption.
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Its purpose is to counteract economic crimes against the state through the implementation of law enforcement, analytical, economic, informational, and other functions which had previously been the purview of the State Security Service (SBU), the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the tax police.
Initially, the BEB proved unsuccessful – it relied on existing personnel who weren’t up to the job – so it was “rebooted” in 2024. When the Bureau was rebooted, no new head was appointed. Ukrainian civil society was pinning its hopes on the BEB and the other newly created bodies including the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court, and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office to solve its long-standing issues.
The delays in appointing a new leadership was described as scandalous, and seen as an attempt to delay progress with Tsyvinsky seen as an outstanding candidate.
Who is Oleksandr Tsyvinsky?
Tsyvinsky had been a participant in the “Clean City” operation run by the National Bank of Ukraine (NABU) and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), against businessman and former Kyiv City Council deputy Denis Komarnitsky and his entourage. As a result a large-scale land corruption scheme run by members of the Kyiv City State Administration was exposed in February of this year.
Despite this the SBU objected to Tsyvinsky’s nomination on the grounds that his father has a Russian passport and still lives there. The election commission was only made aware of this by the World Bank after Tsyvinsky’s election – who maintains he has no communication with his father.
Journalists from the Glavkom website reported that Tsyvinsky’s wife is a professional polygraph examiner and, together with her husband, conducted a polygraph survey of candidates for detectives within the Anti-Corruption Bureau which is not considered a conflict of interest in appointing him as head of the BEB.
The government’s decision to run a new election allowing only two candidates has been negatively received by the public who feel that the reason for Tsyvinsky‘s non-appointment has nothing to do with his father’s Russian citizenship.
The weakest of justifications
Civil society representatives point out that the issue of the Russian citizenship of parents has never been a problem for the authorities. They cite the Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces Oleksandr Syrsky – who led the 2022 defense of Kyiv and was author of the Kharkiv and Kursk operations – also has a Russian father.
They believe that the real objection to Tsivinsky is that he would not allow himself to be negatively controlled by the authorities.
Anti-corruption activist and analyst Martyna Boguslavets said, “Today, on the instructions of the Office of the President, Shmyhal [Prime Minister] and the government refused to appoint NABU detective Tsyvinsky, who honestly won the competition for the director of BEB. Tsyvinsky is not profitable for Bankova [Cabinet Office], because he is independent and was elected by 3 out of 3 votes of international experts. He can pose a threat to Tatarov’s law enforcement system and create a truly independent law enforcement agency.”
In her opinion, this is a blow to the reputation of Ukraine, since the proper, effective work of the BEB is one of the requirements of international partners and is supported in that view by Tetyana Nikolayenko, a member of the Public Council under the Ministry of Defense who wrote:
“To be honest, after yesterday’s government decision, the next step is to eliminate BEB as unnecessary. Because the state benefited from the obedient Melnyk [another candidate] at its head and did not need Tsyvinsky, who carried out ‘Clean City’.”
Investment banker Sergiy Fursa believes that the government’s decision “throws the work of the commission to determine the new chairman in the trash.”
Fursa said: “The Cabinet of Ministers decided that the competition for the head of the BEB was too fair, and this completely violates Ukrainian traditions and undermines sovereignty, and therefore decided to hold a new competition.”
“The President’s Office did not allow the appointment of an independent head of the BEB. The Cabinet of Ministers carried out that order. Sometimes reality sends signals that are too clear to misunderstand everything that happens to us. This is one of them. Obvious. Red,” Inna Vedernikova, a columnist for Dzerkalo Tyzhnia, wrote.
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