On 4 June, Lviv Territorial Department of NABU and EUACI carried out a workshop “International Co-operation in Preventing and Fighting Corruption at Borders”
Participating in the event were NABU Director Artem Sytnyk, Director of the Lviv Territorial Territorial Department of NABU Taras Lopushanskyi, Director of State Bureau of Investigations of Ukraine Roman Truba, EUACI’s Senior Anti-Corruption Adviser, Elena Konceviciute, Head of the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA) of Poland Ernest Bejda, as well as other representatives of the anti-corruption authorities from Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Moldova, and Hungary.
“The criminal world has a high level of mobility, so we also must act immediately to counteract it,” said Taras Lopushanskyi at the opening session of the workshop. He pointed out that this event gathered anti-corruption authorities of all countries (Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Moldova, and Hungary) that share a common border with regions under the Lviv Territorial Department’s supervision. According to him, the workshop will provide NABU and its foreign counterparts with networking opportunities and will help establish effective mechanisms for information exchange.
“NABU already has some good examples of effective cooperation with neighboring countries aiming at countering corruption crimes at borders”, said Artem Sytnyk, NABU Director. For instance, in May 2019, NABU detectives and their Polish counterparts managed to prevent illegal smuggling of the goods amounting to 1.2 million zloty (~8 million hryvnia) and identify the individuals involved. He said that such cooperation was made possible thanks the Memorandum of Understanding which was signed with the CBA of Poland in 2016 for rapid exchange of analytical information.
“I believe we will manage to establish the same partnership with our colleagues from Slovakia, Romania, Hungary, and Moldova,” said Artem Sytnyk.
In her opening remarks at the workshop, EUACI Senior Anti-Corruption Adviser Elena Konceviciute assured NABU executives that EUACI will continue to support NABU in its pursuit of better cooperation with its European colleagues. Ms. Konceviciute emphasized that EUACI has been supporting NABU since its founding, having trained 700 NABU workers during this time and organized 85 events for the Bureau along the way. Senior Anti-Corruption Adviser expressed hope that EUACI’s contribution will help NABU feel more confident and better equipped to work more effectively in the interests of Ukraine.
During the workshop, the participants had several rounds of discussions and presentations during which they identified main directions and priority tasks for current and future cooperation. The agreements they reached were laid down in the Protocol for Multilateral Cooperation in Preventing and Fighting Corruption at Borders that participants signed after the event.
