“U.S. law enforcement professionals are embedded in Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) to help build anti-corruption and asset recovery capacity and strengthen Ukraine’s overall anticorruption efforts,” the statement reads.
Read alsoNABU: Lutsenko "unaware" of basic principles of undercover operations
“U.S. foreign assistance contributed to Ukraine’s seizure of roughly $1.3 billion in cash, with the discovery of more than $3.24 billion in stolen public funds,” says the statement. “U.S. support has contributed to 333 criminal proceedings, 207 notices of suspicion, and the finalization of 108 indictments in cases related to corruption. Ongoing programming will continue to build on these achievements.”
It is noted that the United States also provides funding through a Fiscal Transparency Innovation Fund, which works with civil society organizations to collect, analyze, and publicly disseminate energy-related information; works with the legislature, media, and civil society to promote transparency; promotes the accounting of quasi-fiscal activities within the budget; creates an energy sector discussion platform; and supports sub-grants to local civil society groups to promote transparency at city or local levels.
Read alsoEU says PGO’s moves weakens NABU’s capacity to fight corruption
As UNIAN reported earlier, the U.S. Department of State has said it is concerned about the disruption of a high-level corruption investigation in Ukraine.
The Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine (PGO) earlier announced that a "secret office" of the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine had been revealed in a private house where classified documents were being stored illegally.
On November 30, NABU said that the day before while documenting "one of the episodes involving the first deputy chairman of the State Migration Service, the SBU Security Service, acting under the PGO's guidance, illegally detained a NABU agent who was working undercover."
Read alsoNABU tells about scale of disrupted undercover operationNABU said it was "a planned act of sabotage" against NABU agents and employees of the Specialized Anti-corruption Prosecutor's Office, done by the "SBU and authorized by the Prosecutor General of Ukraine."
The State Migration Service's official, Dina Pimakhova, who is believed to be one of the targets in the NABU undercover operation, said that she had turned to the SBU after she had been offered a bribe.
Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko said that the NABU agent would be charged under Article 370 (provocation of a bribe) and Article 369 (giving bribes) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. In his opinion, NABU's employees provoked Ms Pimakhova.