BRUSSELS — The State Bureau of Investigations of Ukraine will start operating in September, the bureau’s director, Roman Truba, told journalists in Brussels on June 20.
During his three-day visit to Brussels, Truba plans to meet members of the European Parliament, representatives of the European External Action Service and the European Commission to brief them on the work of the bureau.
The SBI is a newly created law enforcement agency with Truba appointed its director on Nov. 22. The SBI will be responsible for investigating cases currently being worked on by the Prosecutor General’s Office, which, according to the law, has already lost its investigative powers.
“We will definitely start our work in September – the only question is in which format,” Truba told the Kyiv Post. “If the changes to the law on the State Bureau of Investigations are adopted, we will begin to work with the middle-level management team as well as with the operational units. If (the Ukrainian parliament) does not approve these changes at second reading, if there is no political will, then we will still start to work, but without middle-level leadership, and also without operational units.”
He said the bureau was unique in Europe in terms of the speed of its formation. “You (usually) need three to four years to create such law enforcement agencies. We gave ourselves less than a year to launch.”
The SBI is now in the process of selecting staff, he said.
“Currently, we’re holding the largest competition in the country, selecting 701 staff. By September we will have selected them, and they will start the work of the bureau. The work will begin with a blank page. Since December last year, we have had only a director and deputies working in the bureau. I also had to be the accountant, secretary, and driver. The working day begins at eight o’clock in the morning and lasts until at least 10 o’clock at night.”
Concerning investigations, they will also start in September, Truba said.
“Our goal is to remain independent,” he said.
“We do not want to work on criminal cases that are already under investigation by other bodies. They have their own investigators who are responsible for the state of pre-trial investigations. We plan that in September we will begin (our own) investigations.”
To deliver good results, the SBI needs to learn from experience of other already existing agencies and to adopt best practices and methods, Truba said. He said he also plans to work with Interpol and FBI.
“It is difficult to imagine how we will work without concluding agreements with Interpol, because now crime is without borders, so we will have to conclude memorandums and agreements with other law enforcement agencies,” Truba said.
Director of the State Bureau of Investigation Roman Truba speaks outside the European Parliament on June 20.
