A reward was paid to a corruption whistleblower for the first time in Ukraine. The possibility of such payments was introduced back in 2019.
This was reported by the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAPC).
The whistleblower is an active serviceman. In 2020-2021, he was the director of the internal audit department of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
In 2021, he applied to NAPC and reported that he was offered a bribe of UAH 24 million — he was supposed to draw up a positive opinion on the works that a certain company had commissioned for the Ministry of Defense. This would allow the company to receive full payment of more than UAH 400 million for the arrangement of the special facility, and it would also be able to apply for future contracts with the agency.
In March 2023, the ex-deputy head of one of the departments of the Ministry of Defense Dmytro Komakh was sentenced to four and a half years in this case. But the court refused to pay the reward to the whistleblower — they said that he officially reported the discovered crime within the scope of his official powers, therefore he has no right to a reward.
At the end of 2023, the Appellate Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) upheld his appeal and awarded the payment.
"This is a fundamental event for the further development of the institution of whistleblowing in Ukraine and the formation of a sustainable culture of whistleblowing. The next case is on the line," said the head of NAPC Viktor Pavluschyk.
So far, the courts have passed two positive decisions on payments to corruption whistleblowers. But due to the lack of settlement, it was impossible to ensure payment for a long time.
- According to the law, the whistleblower can receive 10% of the monetary amount of the subject of the corruption crime or of the amount of damages caused to the state from the crime after the conviction. However, the amount of the reward cannot exceed three thousand minimum wages established at the time of the crime.
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