Draft bill #10088 of September 25, 2023 

Cosponsors: a group of 19 MPs from the Servant of the People, Batkivshchyna, and Holos factions and the Restoration group with Yaroslav Zhelezniak as the first signatory 

Who is affected: the Bureau of Economic Security, Ministry of Finance, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs 

Summary of the bill: 

  • a new procedure will be used for selecting the director of the Bureau: there will be a selection committee of 3 members delegated by the Cabinet of Ministers and 4 members delegated by international organizations 
  • the selection committee will be operational if it has at least five members. At least three of its members should be delegated by international organizations 
  • members of the selection committee will have additional tools to be able to conduct a more thorough check of potential candidates for the position of the BES director: access to restricted information (except for classified) and state-owned databases 
  • the Cabinet will have less influence over the selection of the director of the BES: it will have the right to delegate only one candidate instead of three 
  • the age (currently at least 35 years old) and experience requirements for the BES director position will be removed 
  • it will be allowed to dismiss the BES director if a negative conclusion is issued by the Commission conducting an external independent evaluation (currently it is enough for the Cabinet to decide that the work of the BES director is unsatisfactory after receiving the Director’s report) 
  • the Commission conducting an external independent evaluation will include three members appointed by the Cabinet from candidates proposed by international and foreign organizations 
  • there will be six members of the selection committee that select BES staff. Three of them will be nominated by the Public Control Council of the BES 
  • deputy directors of the BES will be appointed without competition 
  • more restrictions will be introduced for candidates for positions in BES. The following candidates will be turned down: persons who refused to be tested with a lie detector or occupied an investigative and/or operational position in tax police bodies, the prosecutor’s office, the SSU, the State Bureau of Investigation, the police, and the militia for more than one year 
  • the BES director will approve the procedure for the re-certification of all employees of the Bureau. The re-certification will start after the Director is appointed and will be carried out by a committee of six members (three members will be representatives of international organizations). Members of the Committee will be appointed by the BES director 
  • if the bill is adopted, the Cabinet will appoint a new acting BES director who will hold the position for six months until a new candidate is appointed after a competition.

What is right: the Verkhovna Rada and the National Security and Defense Council will no longer have powers to appoint members of the selection committee appointing the BES director 

What is wrong: 

  • the requirement to have at least three representatives of international and foreign organizations in the selection committee and the audit body makes the BES dependent on representatives of international and foreign organizations. This requirement violates the state sovereignty of Ukraine and is unconstitutional since it gives representatives of foreign bodies actual powers to appoint the head of the government body and deprives the people of Ukraine of the exclusive right to exercise power in Ukraine 
  • the restriction that the Cabinet can nominate only one candidate reduces its influence on the process. The Constitution requires that the Cabinet of Ministers has the independent power to appoint the heads of central executive bodies 
  • the restriction for candidates with a background in the prosecution or law enforcement agencies infringes the rights of these candidates to be appointed. It equals the service in prosecution and law enforcement agencies with committing a crime or other actions that deprive a person of the right to enter public service. 

Background information: 

  • in January 2021, the Verkhovna Rada passed the Law on the Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine. The newly created Bureau wasf granted powers to counteract economic crime that before were countered by the tax police and the SSU department of counterintelligence economic security. The reform was addressing the issue of abuse, pressure on businesses, and corruption by the law enforcement agencies 
  • in March 2023, a similar bill was submitted to reboot the BES but it still contained provisions granting the National Security and Defense Council to have some influence on appointing the BES director 
  • during 2023, management problems in the Bureau only escalated and business associations supported the need for a reboot of the Bureau.