Position: former head of NABU, currently deputy head of the National Agency for Prevention of Corruption
Sphere of corruption activity: law enforcement agencies
Region of corruption activity: Kyiv
Qualification: part 1 of Art. 172-5 KupAP Violation of legal restrictions on receiving gifts.
Status: On December 13, 2019, Artem Sytnyk lost an appeal in the Rivne Court of Appeal against the decision of the Sarne Court of the Rivne Region, which in the autumn found the director Sytnyk guilty of an administrative violation while on vacation in the Rivne Region and awarded a fine of UAH 3,400.
Artem Sytnyk, ex-director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, paid a fine and was included in the register of persons who committed corruption or corruption-related offenses.
The plot of the case: the General Prosecutor's Office drew up administrative protocols for Sytnyk regarding his rest in a hunting farm in the Rivne region, which was paid for by other people and the NABU director did not indicate the amount in the declaration. Sytnyk did not pay for accommodation during his vacation in the amount of 25 thousand hryvnias. It was proven in court that Artem Sytnyk rented houses twice (from December 29, 2018 to January 2, 2019 and from March 8 to March 10, 2019) on the territory of the Poliske-Sarny hunting farm (Rivnenshchyna). Officially, it was paid for by a friend of the founders of TOB Polyske-Sarny, to whom the administrators of the institution issued a discount from the cost of renting buildings. Thus, renting a house for the New Year cost Artem Sytnyk 7,000 UAH (full cost – 10,000 UAH), for the March holidays – 10,500 UAH (instead of 15,000 UAH).
The court considered proven the fact that Artem Sytnyk violated the requirements of Part 2 of Art. 23 of the Law, the citizen received a gift in the amount of 25,000 hryvnias (in fact, it is equal to the full cost of renting houses on the territory of the Poliske-Sarny hunting farm), which exceeds the amount of the total value of gifts allowed by law. The decision of the Sarna district court read as follows: to impose on Artem Sytnyk an administrative penalty in the form of a fine in the amount of 200 (two hundred) non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens, which is 3400 hryvnias, with the confiscation of gifts to the state's income (i.e. 25 thousand hryvnias). If the Unified Register of Debtors is to be believed (which records non-payers, including administrative fines), then Artem Sytnyk paid a fine of UAH 3,400.
Scandals: The wife of the NABU head, Anna Sytnyk, became a participant in a scandal in 2018 - she sold a land plot in the annexed Crimea. Acting through a front person - a Russian citizen Nebivailova - she sold a land plot at the address: Sevastopol, Nakhimovsky district, horticultural society "Mirage", No. B-35 to a Russian citizen Pylov. Both defendants are residents of Crimea who received Russian documents after the occupation of the peninsula in April-May 2014. As a result, Anna received 900 thousand Russian rubles, which at that time was equal to 14.9 thousand dollars. She paid 6.6 thousand Russian rubles in state duty. However, journalists, having reviewed the real estate sale announcement, claim that in fact the woman received an amount many times greater for the plot. We are talking about 2 million rubles.
In turn, Artem Sytnyk did not indicate the fact of alienation of the land plot in his annual tax declaration in 2017. Sytnyk faced 2 years in prison for declaring false information. Initially, the head of NABU claimed that his wife "did not sell the plot according to Ukrainian laws." Therefore, he is not obliged to include it in the declaration.
On September 21, 2018, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, at the request of Volodymyr Omelyan, who was then a suspect in one of the criminal cases, initiated a pre-trial investigation against Artem Sytnyk for possible disclosure of data from a previous investigation. Omelyan claimed that the NABU director had warned him on November 2, 2017, about a search of his house that would take place the next day.
On May 20, 2020, a group of 51 people's deputies filed a constitutional petition with the Constitutional Court, questioning the legality of the decree of the President of Ukraine “On the Appointment of Artem Sytnyk as Director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine.” And on August 28, 2020, the Constitutional Court ruled that former President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko had illegally appointed Artem Sytnyk as Head of the NABU.
In April 2025, it became known that the European Court of Human Rights concluded that Ukrainian courts violated the right to a fair trial of the former head of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, Artem Sytnyk, when considering a corruption case against him. This was reported by "European Pravda" with reference to the press service of the Court.
The case concerned proceedings initiated against Sytnyk for receiving unlawful benefits, namely undeclared payment for his vacation in the Rivne region.
In December 2019, the then director of NABU was found guilty and ordered to pay a fine, and his name was added to the public register of corrupt officials for an indefinite period.
The judges of the ECHR unanimously found a violation of Article 6(1) (right to a fair trial), Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) and Article 18 (restrictions on the exercise of rights) of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Court's decision pointed out that the Ukrainian courts relied "on the contradictory testimony of one person about the vacation and the expenses associated with it," without taking into account the defense's arguments and the testimony of his witnesses.
His concerns about the impartiality of the first-instance judge who decided the case were also not addressed
The judges in the case also decided that the proceedings against Sytnyk were personal in nature, and his inclusion in the register of corrupt officials "continues to cast a shadow on his reputation and undermine his professional authority."
Persons who were supposed to react to Artem Sytnyk's corruption schemes:
1. NACP. The head of the National Agency for Corruption Prevention, Oleksandr Novikov, despite the fact that Artem Sytnyk is on the register of persons who have committed corruption or corruption-related offenses, appointed him as his deputy.
2. NABU. Natalia Novak, head of the NACP, did not react in any way to the information about the sale of real estate by Artem Sytnyk's wife in occupied Crimea.
Wealth:
On April 18, 2020, the Director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau Sytnyk submitted the annual declaration of the person authorized to perform the functions of the state for 2019. The declaration shows a plot of land with an area of 416 square meters in the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine, worth 94,300 hryvnias. It is designed for his wife, Anna Mykolaivna Sytnyk. However, documents published back in February of this year testify to the fact of the sale of a plot by Sytniks in the occupied Crimea back in 2017. Extracts from Russian registers, a contract of sale and other documents confirm the fact of the agreement registered by the occupation authorities. Since the value of the specified land plot is from 251 to 558 of the subsistence minimum, it qualifies under Art. 366-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - submission by the subject of the declaration of false information in the declaration, which is punishable by a fine of two thousand five hundred to three thousand non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens or community service for a period of one hundred fifty to two hundred forty hours, or imprisonment for a term of up to two years, with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a term of up to three years. This facility was no longer included in the declaration for 2022.
Sources:
SAP opened a case against Sytnyk and entrusted the investigation to the police