19.05.2025
Investigations
Monopoly on state registries: how NAIS and the Ministry of Justice merge and steal Ukrainian data
The Ministry of Justice of Ukraine under the leadership of Olga Stefanishyna has become a center of inaction and corruption schemes that threaten national security. Instead of modernizing state registries and protecting the rights of citizens, the minister allows controlled entities such as the State Enterprise “NAIS” to abuse their monopoly position, enter into dubious contracts worth hundreds of millions of hryvnias and facilitate raider attacks.
And while Stefanishyna and her entourage enrich themselves at the expense of budget funds, the vulnerability of the registers opens the door to hacker attacks and manipulations ordered by oligarchs.
Monopoly position of the State Enterprise “NAIS”: abuse of power
NAIS is the sole administrator of the Unified and State Registers owned by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine. This enterprise provides access to information that is regulated by law and is critically important for citizens, businesses and government institutions. This was a prerequisite for the abuse of its monopoly position. NAIS used its monopoly position to dictate conditions to users without providing quality services or a transparent pricing system.
As a monopolist in the market of registry administration, the State Enterprise “NAIS” has exclusive power, but instead of effective management, it uses its position for abuse. In particular, in the period from 2016 to 2017, the State Enterprise “NAIS” charged accredited entities a monthly fee for the so-called “technical support” of the system and its updates. These payments were formed for each separately identified user, which created unequal conditions for different clients. In 2017, a similar practice was extended to private enforcement officers. The AMCU recognized these actions as a violation of the legislation on the protection of economic competition and fined NAIS. But what’s the point?
Public procurement: monopoly without competition
In 2025, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine continues to conclude contracts with the State Enterprise NAIS for data processing services related to the functioning of state and unified registers. However, all of these procurements have one thing in common: the actual contractor is always the NAIS, which obviously raises suspicions.
Consequently, other potential participants are not allowed to participate in the procedures, and previous violations of the SE NAIS are ignored. This practice indicates a systemic violation of the principles of competition and efficient use of budget funds.
Moreover, NAIS is administratively subordinated to the Ministry of Justice, which creates a potential conflict of interest. Why does the ministry systematically select the same contractor without conducting an independent audit of the quality of previous services? Why are contract terms not revised to take into account previous violations?
As a result, in recent years, NAIS has received significant amounts from the state budget:
- 2020: UAH 358,250,976;
- 2021: UAH 424,670,396;
- 2025: UAH 92,807,991.36.
These funds were supposed to be used for modernization, protection and smooth operation of the registries. Instead, the system turned out to be vulnerable to attacks and unable to ensure stable operation.
Shutdown of registries: a crisis that could have been avoided
The most disturbing episode was the shutdown of the registries from December 19, 2024, to January 30, 2025. During this period, access to critical data, such as property, business, or court decisions, was impossible. This caused significant inconvenience to citizens, businesses and government agencies, and jeopardized the stability of key processes in Ukraine.
NAIS, as the main contractor, failed to ensure the continuous operation of IT systems, which is its direct responsibility. However, instead of conducting an audit or changing the terms of cooperation, the Ministry of Justice continues to sign new contracts with the same contractor without changing the terms of reference or assessing previous failures.
The lack of reaction to such serious failures raises suspicions: is this the result of deliberate ignoring of problems or even corruption schemes? Why is the state not looking for alternative contractors or implementing mechanisms to improve the reliability of the systems?
Without an independent investigation and audit of the activities of the State Enterprise “NAIS” and the Ministry of Justice, the situation will remain a threat to the stability of state registers and public trust in state institutions. And the potential leakage of personal data through hacker attacks could have long-term consequences, including fraud, identity theft, and loss of trust in state institutions.
Raiding by the Ministry of Justice at the request of oligarchs from OPFL?
In December 2024, the NGO Non-Stop became the target of a real raider attack. And what’s worse, it involved the central office of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, which is supposed to protect rights and the rule of law, but instead uses its powers for its own purposes.
It all started with the fact that on December 5 and 16, 2024, a representative of the Ministry of Justice, Ms. Lopotsiuk, refused to re-register our NGO (without our knowledge) due to the falsifications found in the constituent documents. However, unexpectedly, on January 10, when the state registers were disabled due to technical problems, the Ministry of Justice changed its position and agreed to the changes, which had all the signs of forgery. In fact, we are the first in Ukraine to come under a raider attack. Moreover, such manipulations cost the customer Stolar and his assistants, lawyer Opanasenko and former prosecutor Matios, $20,000.
Someone orders forgery of documents, someone tries to steal an NGO for money, and the Ministry of Justice, instead of protecting us, supports these schemes. But we will not give up. Based on our materials, the Kyiv City Department of the Bureau of Economic Crime (№ 72025102100000016 and № 7202510250000031 under Article 170 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), the Main Department of the Security Service of Ukraine in Kyiv and Kyiv region (№ 22025101110000603 under Part 2 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) are already conducting their own investigations. In addition, we have filed relevant motions to speed up the pre-trial investigation and clarify the circumstances as fully as possible. So, we are waiting for the response.
Conclusions
The situation with NAIS and the Ministry of Justice is an example of how monopoly, conflict of interest and lack of transparency can undermine the operation of critical infrastructure. Abuse of monopoly position, violation of competition, questionable procurement and stoppage of registries are not only technical problems, but also issues of national security. The data of Ukrainians stored in the registers must be protected, and access to them must be uninterrupted and transparent.
We call for immediate inspections of the activities of the State Enterprise “NAIS” and the Ministry of Justice. That is why we have already submitted the relevant materials and are waiting for a response.
Did you witness a crime?
Let us know about it. We will help protect the violated rights!
Share the post:
Last news
-
29 May 2025Arbitrariness of judges
-
26 May 2025Investigations
-
24 May 2025Cybercrimes
-
22 May 2025Investigations
-
14 May 2025Business of Occupiers Kharkiv
-
6 May 2025Ecology Money laundering