Photo: NACP
The National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAPC ) has made the first ever payment of a reward to a corruption whistleblower. This was made possible by the decision of the Appeals Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court, which opened a new chapter in the fight against corruption in the country.
The whistleblower was a serving serviceman who served as Director of the Internal Audit Department of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine in 2020-2021. In 2021, he reported to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) an attempt to bribe him in the amount of UAH 24 million. The bribe was offered for a positive audit report on the implementation of a state contract, which would have allowed the company to receive more than UAH 400 million.
The verdict in the case was delivered on 24 March 2023. The court sentenced the former deputy head of one of the MoD’s departments to 4.5 years in prison. However, the NACP initially refused to pay the whistleblower a reward, believing that he had acted within his official capacity.
This position was challenged, and at the end of 2023, the HACC Appeals Chamber upheld the whistleblower’s appeal, awarding a payment of UAH 1.68 million. Thus, the implementation of the law on whistleblower remuneration, which was introduced in 2019, has finally been put into practice.
NAPC Chairman Viktor Pavlushchyk noted that this payment was made possible by changes in the procedure for using budget funds to implement anti-corruption strategies. He stressed that further payments to whistleblowers are a priority for the NACP.
According to Ukrainian law, a whistleblower may receive a reward of up to 10% of the amount of the corruption offence, but not more than three thousand minimum wages. The status of a whistleblower is granted to an individual who provides reliable information about corruption offences.
This first successful case in Ukraine could be an important step towards developing the practice of whistleblower payments, similar to those already implemented in other countries such as the United States, Lithuania and South Korea. In Ukraine, the new initiative opens up prospects for more active participation of citizens in the fight against corruption.
