Performance Review of Ukraine's Anti-Corruption Agency (NAZK) from 2020 to 2026
An analysis of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NAZK) covering 2020 through 2026 reveals notable trends in both judicial outcomes and declaration audits. More than half of the cases that the agency forwarded to court were ultimately dismissed. According to data obtained by journalists, courts closed 52% of the cases submitted by NAZK during this timeframe. The dismissal rate was particularly high for conflict-of-interest cases, reaching 90%.
However, starting in 2024, the situation improved: NAZK's success rate in court rose to approximately 60%. This shift is partly attributed to a new law that took effect at the end of 2023, which reinstated the requirement for political parties to submit quarterly reports. Each year, over 630,000 declarations are filed by Ukrainian officials, yet only about 1,000 undergo in-depth verification. The criteria used to select declarations for review remain undisclosed to the public.
Financial and Organizational Overview of NAZK
In 2025, NAZK spent 593 million UAH on its operations, with more than 500 million UAH allocated to salaries. The agency employs 413 people, but only about 10% of its staff directly handle declaration audits and lifestyle monitoring of public officials. The average annual salary of a NAZK employee is approximately 1.2 million UAH. Over its nearly ten years of existence, the agency has undergone only one external audit, raising concerns about its overall efficiency.
Meanwhile, in the broader fight against corruption, the rate of reported corruption experiences in interactions with authorities fell to 18.2% in 2025—a dramatic drop from 67.8% in 2008. Despite this progress, auditors have neither declared NAZK ineffective nor conclusively proven its effectiveness.
If someone at NAZK had personally reviewed the declarations of Galushchenko, signs of illicit enrichment could have been detected much earlier.
— Natalia Sicheluk, Legal Advisor at Transparency International Ukraine
Courts typically close cases for the following reasons:
- expired statutes of limitations for prosecution;
- insufficient evidence;
- minor nature of the violations.
These factors highlight the need for NAZK to improve its evidence-gathering processes and speed up investigations.
The data on NAZK's performance underscores the importance of reforming Ukraine's public oversight and law enforcement systems. Despite recent improvements in case outcomes, the persistent dismissal of cases due to weak evidence remains a critical issue. Enhancing declaration verification procedures and making selection criteria more transparent could become key drivers in the fight against corruption, ultimately shaping public trust in anti-corruption institutions.
In addition to the challenges faced by Ukraine's Anti-Corruption Agency in securing judicial outcomes, a recent report highlights the identification of numerous corruption-prone provisions within existing laws and decrees. This underscores the systemic issues that complicate the agency's efforts and the broader fight against corruption in the country.