Bureau of Economic Security (Бюро економічної безпеки; Biuro ekonomichnoi bezpeky; БЕБ or BEB). A law enforcement body in the sphere of economic crime created in March 2021 to safeguard the state’s economic interests and to improve the business environment. Replacing the Tax Police of the State Fiscal Service (DFS) and absorbing the economic crime-fighting units of the National Police of Ukraine and Security Service of Ukraine, BEB began operations in November 2021. The Tax Police had a reputation, particularly under the leadership of Mykola Azarov, of harassing businesses in an arbitrary manner for political purposes. This produced a negative effect on the business climate in Ukraine. As a remedy, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) directed the Ukrainian government to establish the new body. The Tax Police and DFS were duly liquidated.

BEB was tasked with investigating economic crime, principally tax and excise evasion, fraudulent bankruptcies, fraud, smuggling, money laundering, misuse of financial data, exposure of bank secrets, and unlawful privatization of state property. With a staff of 4,000 employees, it serves an analytical function in addition to law enforcement. Its analog in the United States of America would be the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). BEB’s director is appointed for a five-year term after open competitive selection by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

Initially, Vadym Melnyk, formerly head of the discredited DFS, was appointed director of BEB on 20 August 2021, but resigned in 2023 having failed to live up to expectations. After a prolonged search from among 43 contenders, he was replaced on 6 August 2025 by Oleksandr Tsyvinsky, previously detective of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU). The delay came about because the successful candidate, recommended by the selection committee, the European Union, and the IMF, was not the preference of Ukraine’s government which generally desires to have firm political control of its law enforcement agencies. Fiscal rectitude on the part of the Ukrainian government is a condition of the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF) reform program.

Bohdan Harasymiw
[This article was written in 2025.]