‘Don’t pretend you’ve achieved anything,’ said the MP, criticising the director of the Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine for manipulating the results of their work
He made this statement during a meeting of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy.
Setbacks in the de-shadowing of the economy and manipulation of figures: why MPs criticised the Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine
Commenting on the results of the Economic Security Bureau’s work, Danylo Getmantsev noted that MPs are dissatisfied with the slowdown in the de-shadowing process. In his view, this is a consequence either of corruption or of law enforcement agencies failing to do their job properly. The MP also pointed out that the achievements presented by Oleksandr Tsyvinskyi during his speech do not correspond to reality.
“We are all expecting positive results from you. But if you publish or announce inaccurate data, you are discrediting yourselves. You stated that 3.8 billion hryvnias had been recovered; analysis shows that 2.9 billion hryvnias does not cover the whole of 2025, but rather the period from 2022 to 2024. Why are you publishing inaccurate data? We have all the payment orders. These all relate to previous periods. Moreover, for 2025, compensation for state losses amounts to just 47 million hryvnias. There is no need to claim victories that do not exist. When you pass off wishful thinking as reality and feed the public with presentations instead of real action, it undermines trust in everyone,” the MP emphasised.
Furthermore, Danylo Getmantsev noted that in most areas the ESBU is supposed to address, there has been a deterioration. This primarily concerns the market for excise goods.
“We don’t need false victories. Therefore, if you’re talking about the black market for tobacco, you shouldn’t compare 2023 with 2025; you should compare the end of 2024, when the illegal market stood at 12.6 per cent, with 2026, where it is already almost 18 per cent. The fact that there has been a setback is obvious. The fact that you fail to notice this does not work in your favour,” said the MP, adding that the State Budget Office is trying to demonstrate its effectiveness by pointing to increased budget revenues from various sectors. Whereas in reality, such an increase is mainly due to inflation or changes in tax rates.
“Why are you engaging in manipulation? You need to work, not pretend that you have achieved something,” summarised Danylo Getmantsev, noting that from now on such committee hearings would be held regularly and would have corresponding consequences, including personnel changes.
For his part, the Director of the Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine, Oleksandr Tsyvinskyi, in an attempt to justify the Bureau’s low effectiveness, stated that the agency is undergoing a profound transformation amid limited resources and is changing its working philosophy.
MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak spoke in support of the Director of the Economic Security Bureau. According to him, a re-certification process is underway at the ESBU, so it is too early to draw conclusions (the ESBU ‘reboot’ began in August 2025 – ed.). At the same time, he confirmed that there are questions regarding the institution’s work in combating the illegal tobacco and alcohol markets, as well as gambling.
Re-certification, polygraph tests and bookings: what else was discussed during the ESBU hearing
At the meeting of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy, MPs also considered the issue of the re-certification of Economic Security Bureau staff and the organisation of the agency’s work.
In particular, the lack of communication between the State Tax Service and the Economic Security Bureau was discussed. During the discussion of this issue, Oleksandr Tsyvinsky was unable to explain to MPs why there is a difference of almost 40 times in the official figures regarding the number of analytical reports received by the Economic Security Bureau from the State Tax Service (according to the Bureau, there are just over 50, whilst the Tax Service claims there are over 2,000 reports).
MP Maksym Buzhansky drew attention to the inaction of the ESBU’s internal control units, and also noted that he had received information regarding the Bureau’s management using polygraph tests and the withdrawal of vehicle allocations as tools to exert influence and pressure on those staff members who do not share the new team’s position.
In addition, the MP raised the issue of the ESBU’s use of so-called informal agreements with businesses involved in the Bureau’s cases. This refers to the approach introduced by Oleksandr Tsyvinskyi’s team, whereby individuals involved in criminal proceedings reimburse part of their unpaid taxes and publicly promise to go legit, receiving in return the closure of their cases and time to change their business model.
“If there is guilt, there must be punishment. If there is no guilt, it is pressure on business. It cannot be the case that we catch a business and then come to an agreement. This borders on corruption. I would like everyone to work within the law,” he noted.
MPs also criticised ESBU Director Oleksandr Tsyvinsky for using schemes to appoint “the right people”, a practice continued from the Bureau’s first head, Vadym Melnyk, and emphasised several times that the justifications put forward by the current ESBU leadership have not changed since then.
At the same time, according to the MPs, recent high-profile journalistic investigations, the arrest of ESBU staff for taking bribes, and the continued presence in office of controversial heads of regional departments, indicate that the re-certification process is proceeding rather slowly and ineffectively.
For his part, Vasyl Chyzmar, a representative of the Public Oversight Council, drew attention to the poor quality of the materials prepared by the ESBU and submitted to the disciplinary commission. According to him, they are often improperly formatted, and some only appear after the vote has taken place. The activist noted that this issue had already been raised with the ESBU leadership, but no concrete answers had been provided.
It is worth noting that the Director of the Economic Security Bureau, Oleksandr Tsyvinskyi, refuted most of the criticism.
At the end of the meeting, the Chair of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy noted that those present would receive the committee’s decision shortly, and that a further hearing on all the issues discussed would take place in a month’s time.
“We are personally interested in seeing reforms take place, but we certainly won’t pretend they are happening if they aren’t,” concluded Danylo Getmantsev.
As previously reported by ThePublic, following the exposure of ESBU staff taking bribes, the Verkhovna Rada called on the prosecutor’s office to review all of the Bureau’s criminal proceedings.
