Restarting Economic Security Bureau. Updated bill submitted to Rada: what does it provide

The Verkhovna Rada submitted on Monday an updated bill on the restart of the Economic Security Bureau, number 10088. The previous draft law No. 9080, which received a skeptical assessment of the parliament's Chief Scientific and Expert Department, was withdrawn a few days before, according to the website of the legislature.

In the new draft law, the MPs, including the heads of the finance committee Danil Getmantsev and Yaroslav Zheleznyak, propose to subordinate the activities of the ESBU to the Minister of Finance and to change the tender procedure "following the example of the practices of National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office and National Agency on Corruption Prevention".

The draft law provides for the early termination of the powers of the first deputy director of the Bureau and his deputies (there is no director in the Bureau at the moment) and the announcement of a new competition for the position of director of the Bureau.

The new director will be appointed according to the changed procedure. The competition commission will consist of seven people: three - from the Cabinet of Ministers, four - based on the proposals of international organizations that provided international technical assistance to Ukraine.

The commission will be considered full-fledged if at least five members are appointed, and a minimum of four votes, including at least three from members proposed by international organizations, will be required to make decisions.

The reason for the dismissal of the newly elected director of the ESBU will not be the negative conclusion of the Cabinet of Ministers based on the results of the annual report, but the negative conclusion of the audit (according to the model of NABU and NACP). It should be held twice: one year and three years after the appointment.

Within a year after the appointment of the new director, all employees of the Bureau will have to undergo mandatory certification. Those who fail it will be fired and will not be able to hide on sick leave or vacation.

The bill proposes to establish a ban on employment in the Economic Security Bureau for persons who, before January 1, 2023, worked for a year or more in any investigative or operational position in the bodies of the tax police, the prosecutor's office, the Security Service of Ukraine, the State Bureau of Investigation, the National Police of Ukraine, or the militia.

Vadym Melnyk, the first and so far the last director of ESBU, was dismissed from his position on April 11 at his own request. ESBU was created in 2021 to replace the tax police.