Ukraine anti-corruption chief says his agency faces 'dirty information campaign'

By Dan Peleschuk

KYIV (Reuters) -Ukraine's top anti-corruption investigator said on Friday that he did not expect attempts to derail his agency's work to end, despite an abrupt U-turn by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on curbing their independence that fuelled rare wartime protests.

Semen Kryvonos, director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), said he was taken aback by attempts this week to curtail his agency's fight against graft but did not name those who may have been behind the legislation.

"Everyone united around the idea of ruining our independence," Kryvonos told Reuters in an interview in Kyiv, referring to parliament passing the controversial measures. "This was a shock for me - how much demand had built up to destroy us."

He spoke a day after Zelenskiy sought to defuse tensions by submitting legislation restoring the independence of NABU and its sister agency, the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO).

Thousands of protesters took part in protests in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities this week after lawmakers fast-tracked a bill granting a Zelenskiy-appointed general prosecutor power over the two bodies.

The move had also threatened Kyiv's ties with the European Union and Western donors which have been a critical source of financial and military support during Russia's war in Ukraine.

Kryvonos applauded Zelenskiy's reversal, but said NABU and SAPO remain a high-priority target for vested interests aiming to stymie their closely watched efforts to clean up.

Parliament will consider Zelenskiy's new bill in a special session next week.

But Kryvonos worries corrupt actors will step up a "dirty information campaign" already being waged against NABU on widely read anonymous Telegram channels, casting the agency as slow or ineffective.

He did not identify the exact sources of resistance to his agency's work, saying only that they are "various representatives of the government, various financial groups".

"Everyone who is offended by NABU and SAPO will be pushing out this message," Kryvonos said.

'SYSTEMIC WORK' AND THREATS

Since Russia's February 2022 invasion, Ukraine has stepped up a campaign to eradicate the pervasive graft that has plagued its political culture for decades.

Stamping out corruption is both critical to Kyiv's bid to join the EU and its effort to erase a legacy of autocracy and Russian rule.

NABU and SAPO, launched with Western support after a 2014 revolution toppled a pro-Russian president, have levelled charges against lawmakers and senior government officials.

In recent months, Kryvonos's agency has uncovered huge real estate schemes in the capital Kyiv and accused a then deputy prime minister of taking a $345,000 kickback.

Kryvonos suggested such efforts had led to a sweeping crackdown this week that paved the way for the rollback of NABU's and SAPO's powers.

Two NABU officials were arrested for suspected ties to Russia and nearly 20 other agency employees searched over lesser alleged infractions in a campaign critics said went too far.

"All of this was a result of systemic work by NABU and SAPO, especially over the past half-year," he said, adding that he had also received "a huge amount" of threats.

Despite winning a hard-fought victory this week, he said resistance was still widespread enough across the political landscape to pose a serious challenge.

He cited the controversial law that had been supported by most of Zelenskiy's political party as well as opposition lawmakers and those associated with former pro-Russian factions.

Political elites, Kryvonos said, "need to stop considering us as enemies...and accept us as an important part of state institutions."

(Editing by Timothy Heritage)