In Ukraine, a reward has been paid to a whistleblower of corruption for the first time

This information was released on October 4 by the press service of the NAPC.

According to the report, the serviceman held the position of Director of the Internal Audit Department of the Ministry of Defence in 2020-2021. In 2021, he approached the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine with a statement that he had been offered an illicit reward of 24 million UAH for actions in the interest of a specific LLC.

"The matter involved engaging specialists to conduct an unscheduled internal audit of the execution of a state contract. The audit team was supposed to prepare a positive audit report on the completeness, quality, and compliance of the work performed with the contract terms. This would enable the company to receive full payment exceeding 400 million UAH for the development of a special facility and qualify for future contracts with the Ministry of Defence (Part 3 of Article 369 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine)," noted the NAPC press service.

The High Anti-Corruption Court handed down a verdict in this case on March 24, 2023, sentencing the subject - a former deputy head of a management department in the Ministry of Defence - to 4.5 years of imprisonment.

However, the court denied the reward payment to the whistleblower, justifying its decision based on the fact that he reported the crime as part of his official duties and, therefore, was not entitled to a reward. The whistleblower appealed this decision and won the appeal at the end of 2023.