The Accounting Chamber found that BEB was operating without proper funding and government assistance.

Since the very beginning of the Ukrainian Bureau of Economic Security (BEB), it has faced a lack of funding, personnel shortages, and the absence of proper coordination from the government, as reported by thepublic.info citing the Accounting Chamber of Ukraine, which published the audit results.

Despite difficult conditions, the agency demonstrated gradual growth in effectiveness. For example, in 2024, BEB recovered damages to the state amounting to 5.3 billion UAH, setting a record for the organization’s existence.

Funding of BEB is below needs

According to the Accounting Chamber, significantly more financial resources were planned during the creation of BEB to ensure its operation. At the same time, actual funding did not meet legislative requirements or declared goals.

«As of 2024, out of 24 planned territorial offices, only nine were actually operational. Reasons: limited funding and personnel shortages. On average, territorial offices were staffed at only 40%, and the overall staff of BEB was half of the required,  – stated in the report

Auditors emphasize that this did not allow the agency to timely implement the analytical and preventive components embedded in legislation. Fully staffing the organization was impossible due to the lack of a regulatory procedure for forming competitive and certification commissions (the recruitment of detectives stopped in June 2024 after adoption of the law "on the reloading of BEB").

Regulatory inconsistencies also affected remuneration: the salaries of BEB employees were on average 37% lower than, for example, those in the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine.

Problems with the regulatory framework

The Accounting Chamber noted that the legal framework, which should ensure the full functioning of BEB, remains incomplete and imperfect as of today. Although the main documents were adopted – the Law «On the Bureau of Economic Security» and Regulation No. 1068 on BEB, – this is not enough. To fully realize the agency’s powers, amendments to several other acts were needed, but they were not made in a timely manner, the auditors emphasize in the Report.

Due to these gaps, BEB was unable to perform some of its tasks. For example, one of the functions of the Bureau is to provide recommendations to government bodies in the field of economic security. However, no regulatory act obliged other bodies to implement them. As a result, out of 1,778 recommendations from BEB (with a total risk assessment of 22.9 billion UAH), there was no response from the authorities. Even amid criticism of BEB, deputies of the Verkhovna Rada did not initiate relevant legislative changes.

Were there results despite obstacles?

In 2022–2023, the activities of BEB repeatedly became a subject of political debate. The agency was criticized for «inefficiency», and the parliament ultimately voted for a «reboot» of the agency. However, political statements never raised the issue of inadequate funding, lack of government support, or other problems of the newly created body.

Despite the difficult start of operations, which coincided with the beginning of a full-scale invasion, the institution gradually increased its indicators. One of the main ones is the recovery of damages to the state budget through criminal proceedings sent to court:

• in 2022, only 33 million UAH was recovered
• in 2023, more than 544 million
• in 2024, already 5.3 billion
• in 2025 (first six months) – a record 3 billion

Thus, over three years, the state received from BEB’s work almost 9 billion UAH in actual money.

New leadership of BEB without a new plan

Since August 2025, BEB has been headed by new director Oleksandr Tsivinsky. His appointment followed a lengthy competition and was supported by the new Prime Minister, but after a month and a half of work, he has not yet presented a public reform and activity update plan.

Former head of one of NABU’s detective units, Tsivinsky, in media comments, asks not to expect quick results and notes that the main achievement over a year could be the integrity of employees. He considers the recovery of unpaid taxes as a mistaken criterion for evaluating BEB’s effectiveness.

Auditors’ conclusions

The Accounting Chamber summarizes: without comprehensive regulatory and resource support, as well as clear coordination from the Cabinet of Ministers, the Bureau of Economic Security will not be able to fully perform its tasks in combating economic crimes.

The state created a new body, but for years it remains without support. This led to limited results in the initial years and became a basis for «reloading», but did not solve the problems.

«BEB needs to be granted a special status, conditions for paying employees defined in the Law on the Bureau, expanded opportunities for them to fulfill their duties under martial law restrictions, and ensure their security and that of participants in criminal proceedings with their own forces, as well as improve a number of regulatory acts to address other peculiarities of activity»,  summarized Yelizaveta Pushko-Cibulyak.