Poroshenko and Kononenko: How to Make a Fortune out of the Customs

The answer is rather simple: Poroshenko and Groysman realized that it would be much more lucrative to go along with smuggling and divide the acquired cash between themselves rather than stand up against it.

Furthermore, since 2015 Poroshenko has been subdividing his influence at Ukrainian customs. He also got customs officers of Yanukovych’s regime, Kaletnyk and Romanenko, involved in the process so that they controlled all of the smuggling operations.

Half of Ukrainian customs checkpoints, supervised by Kononenko, were handed over to Poroshenko.

The other half remained either under the joint custody or under the influence of Kaletnyk’s gang.

I got to know this information owing to the list of appointments that took place at the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine, and had been primarily agreed by Mr Likarchuk, First Deputy Chief of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine, and Nina Yuzhanina, known as Poroshenko’s personal accountant.

On June 27, 2015, Kostyantyn Likarchuk sent an edited table named FIOZ to Nina Yuzhanina. The table included a list of candidates considered for senior positions at the Ukrainian Customs House. Names of the officials lobbying their appointments were enlisted as well.

In other words, the table aimed at subdividing the influence at different Ukrainian customs checkpoints.

At that time (since May, 2015) the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine was headed by Roman Nasirov appointed to such a post owing to Borys Lozhkin.

In his turn, Lozhkin agreed Nasirov’s appointment with Vitalyi Khomutynnik, who was a former representative of the Party of Regions and current leader of the Revival Deputies’ Group. After Yanukovych’s runaway Khomutynnik was given a nickname ‘a customs overseer’.

And when it comes to Kostyantyn Likarchuk himself, he is Ihor Kononenko’s protégé. His appointment as Deputy Head of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine was arranged in opposition to Prime-Minister Yatsenyuk and Likarchuk also found his bearings in controlling the Customs House.

Kononenko charged Likarchuk with an errand to sort the financial flows at the State Fiscal Service out. So Likarchuk prepared a table with a complete list of regional fiscal appointees and their ‘lobbyists’.

The existence of such a list is nothing but a proof of the customs being subdivided between the ‘old’ authorities of Yanukovych and the new generation of Poroshenko. The positions at the Customs House were repeatedly reassigned but the so-called ‘customs quotas’ assigned to certain individuals still do exist. The fact that customs managing officials, who are still in charge at their posts regardless of having the history with Yanukovych, is indicating the statement I said before.

The list by Likarchuk consists of more than 25 managerial positions at the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine (hereinafter SFS). It includes heads of its central body, chiefs/deputy chiefs of the Customs Office, managers of different customs checkpoints etc.

It is confirmed in the list that these appointees have been backed by certain individuals and each of these individuals is responsible for a specific region (oblast) of Ukraine. The appointees’ assignments are determined per quotas that have been evenly divided among the former and current authorities in power.

• One part of the regions is assigned to a certain person marked by the letter ‘K’ that is Ihor Kononenko. His sphere of influence involves customs offices in Dnipro (Enerhetychna (Energy) Customs Office), Zakarpattya, Kirovohrad, Ivano-Frankivsk, Mykolayiv, Kharkiv, Sumy Cherkassy regions and the municipal customs office in Kyiv.

• The second influential individual in this business is a former customs officer by name Hennadyi Romanenko known as SFS head’s freelance advisor. He is marked in the list by the letter ‘R’. In fact, this man was a protégé of Ihor Kaletnyk, Customs Head during the presidency of Yanukovych and is one of shadow managers of the Ukrainian Customs House. In 2015, Head of the State Fiscal Service Roman Nasirov insisted on Romanenko’s assignment as head of Odessa Customs Office, however, the attempt went down the drain due to the lustration law Romanenko was subject to. Heading the State Fiscal Service, Nasirov didn’t manage to assign a so-called gray eminence of the customs as his deputy as well, being affected by strong public reaction. Nasirov’s public speaking in support of his advisor suggests now a conclusion of who exactly managed the activity of the whole fiscal system.

The sphere of Romanenko’s influence included the customs offices in Kyiv, Zaporizhia and Lviv regions (according to the quota he shared with Nasirov), Rivne region (sharing the quota with former Deputy of the Party of Regions and former Head of Volyn Customs Office Roman Mykytyuk who is currently working as Deputy of Volyn’ Regional Council and was involved into scandals with corruption implications leading to his removal from the customs in 2013), Volyn, Odessa (sharing the quota with Ihor Kononenko), Chernihiv, Zhytomyr regions and the municipal customs office in Kyiv.

Likarchuk openly indicates Romanenko’s responsibility over all of the staff issues coming up at the customs offices.

• Customs Offices in Vinnytsya and Kherson are also subject to the quota of managerial positions given to Yanukovych’s former partners. They are Ihor Kaletnyk, former Chairman of the Customs Service of Ukraine and First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, and his partner Stepan Derivolkov, First Deputy Minister of Taxes and Duties (he’s got a part of Vinnytsya customs quota). During the time of Yanukovych’s presidency, Derivolkov was called Customs Chief Cashier, collecting around 90mln USD in cash, the largest part of which was moved out to offshores of Yanukovych. After the arrival of new authority, Kaletnyk managed to come with it to an agreement that cost him giving up the customs generated black cash. In exchange for that he was given a possibility to leave Ukraine for Russia freely what he actually did and Derivolkov enjoyed his immunity.

• There was one more official, who had the quota at the municipal customs office in Kyiv (heading it since July 2015), and his name was Ihor Pikovskyi. He was granted with an exclusive right of assigning his assistant himself. Pikovskyi’s managerial position was given to him under the patronage of Kononenko. And within one year he started to manage one more customs office of Kononenko, liable to his quotas – Enerhetychna (Energy) Customs Office. Pikovskyi used to be a rather influential personality having a number of assets including the marker ‘Shatskyi’ and ‘Lyuboml’-Market’. Furthermore, he had some bonds with Yuriy Ivanyushchenko, a businessman from Donetsk region known under the nickname ‘Yura Yenakievskyi’.

• It’s also worth noting that senior positions at the customs offices in Luhansk and Donetsk as well as some posts at the Customs Development Department of the State Fiscal Service were not subject to the aforementioned assignment quota and the candidates for managerial posts were selected for operation on a temporary basis.

It’s a high time for us to analyze the top list of customs officers taking into consideration the quotas and politicians each quota referred to:

1. Oleh Ovchynnykov, Deputy Chief of Customs Development Department of the State Fiscal Service. This very person was not subordinate to any political side. Apparently, he found himself in the list of individuals liable to lustration and as a result he got fired.

2. Dmytro Yakobchuk. He was proposed as Acting-Chief of Volyn Customs Office. His assignment was lobbied by Hennadyi Romanenko, SFS Head’s Advisor. Yakubchuk got the job on June 22, 2015. It was said in the comments of Likarchuk’s corruption list (hereinafter ‘the list of Likarchuk’) that Yakobchuk was the protégé of Mr. Mykytyuk, former Deputy of the Party of Regions heading that customs office till 2013. Mr. Romanenko lobbied that appointment personally. Moreover, he represented Mr. Mykytyuk a plan of how to illegally obtain and transfer money to Kyiv. Mr. Yakobchuk was also described as one having no any outstanding managerial qualities at all. Apparently, he was proposed as temporary candidate for the post and soon transferred as Checkpoint Deputy Head of Volyn Customs Office. And in 2017 Mr. Yakobchuk took over the position of Checkpoint Deputy Head of Lviv Customs Office that was subject to Romanenko’s quota as well. Likarchuk publicly announced that he was ready to resign from his post if there would be people of Kaletnyk represented at the customs and Romanenko was one of them. Well, as we see, Mr. Likarchuk had no influence on granting positions to certain people just like Roman Nasirov himself never did.

3. Kostyantyn Shalay. He was proposed as candidate for the position of Dnipropetrovs’k Customs Checkpoint. The Customs Office in Dnipro was covered by the quota of Ihor Kononenko. Up to that time Shalay had led Dnipro Customs Office. His demotion was entailed by introducing a new player to the game. His name was Vadym Pysaryev, another protégé of Kononenko, who had to take over the post of Dnipro Customs Office Head instead of Shalay.

When it comes to Shalay, at the moment he is Deputy Chief of Spetsializovanyi Customs Checkpoint at Dnipro Customs Office. And his wife Elena Shalay leads a company regularly winning tenders for millions UAH offers when the party requesting the bidding declines more favorable price offers for some reason, referring to misprints made in tender documentation.

4. Vadym Pysaryev. He is the one who brought down Kostyantyn Shalay by taking over his position as Head of Dnipro Customs Office. Till then he had led a department at Kharkiv Regional State Administration. However, Mr. Pysarev hadn’t managed to stay in a new managerial seat for long and was dismissed in 2016 by reason of the criminal case related to bribery and abuse of power.

Mr. Pysaryev was one of those customs officers who stood up for dismissal of Odessa Customs Office Head Yuliya Marushevska. The reason of her dismissal was ‘questionable experimentation and PR campaigns’ and such an incident confirmed Pysaryev being just a puppet in the hands of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc once again.

5. Serhiy Pasyuk. He was proposed as candidate for a position of Acting Chief of Donetsk Customs Office. It’s not known who was backing him as there was no such information in the list of Likarchuk. In 2016, Pasyuk was approved as Customs Head on an ongoing basis and this post has been held by him to date. By the way, he was under suspicion of declaring intentionally misleading information in 2016.

6. Mykola Stryha. He was planned for assignment as Deputy Chief of the Energy Customs Office (covered by Kononenko’s quota). However, his appointment didn’t take place as the candidate hadn’t been presented by Kononenko. As it’s been said above, this customs office has been headed by Kononenko’s protégé Ihor Pykovskyi since 2016. Andriy But has worked as Pykovskyi’s deputy since 2015 and he is still maintaining his position there. As Ihor Kononenko has taken care of this customs office it becomes quite clear why the National Agency on Corruption Prevention has turned a blind eye to the origin of property belonging to the family of Andriy But that he declared.

7. Serhiy Hayevskyi. He is assigned as Dolyna Customs Checkpoit Chief of Ivano-Frankivks Customs Office and his appointment was fulfilled taking into account Kononenko’s quota. Mr. Hayevskyi was considered as a temporary candidate until the appointment of Customs Office Head. Hayevsky is still leading the customs checkpoint. When it comes to other senior positions at Ivano-Frankivsk Customs Office, in 2016 some of them were taken by Yanukovych’s people who somehow managed to dodge lustration. And only in 2017 the customs offices was chaired by Vasyl’ Vatamanyuk chosen on a competitive basis. Well, after a while, the customs office management was involved in a fat bribery scandal.

8. Roman Krutyak. He was a proposed as Acting Chief of Zakarpattya Customs Office under the quota of Kononenko. In 2015 Mr. Krutyak was an assistant of Robert Horvat, Deputy from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, known as the principal author of the preferential customs clearance act. Initially Krutyak was assigned as Infrastructure Management Leading Specialist at Zakarpattya Customs Office of Ukraine’s State Fiscal Service. Eventually, he was redeployed as First Deputy Chief of Cherkasy Customs Office that was also under Kononenko’s quota. In 2017 Roman Krutyak was under suspicion of illicit enrichment.

9. Serhiy Rudchenko. He was assigned as Head of Kyiv Customs Office under Romanenko’s quota. Taking in consideration comments from the list of Likarchuk, Rudchenko functioned as a mediating party in the time of Kaletnyk and Romanenko in power. Rudchenko’s assignment was accidental after a feeble attempt of Romanenko (the assignment quota owner) to appoint Ruslan Kuz’menko who was assigned as First Deputy Chief of the Customs Office. Mr. Rudchenko arrived in Kyiv from Khmel’nytskyi Customs Office where he held a post of its Deputy Head. In 2016 Rudchenko was accused by Prime Minister Groysman of fraud in customs registration of cargo. Groysman even promised to send the probative materials to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office. People’s deputies didn’t support the Parliamentary Committee’s recommendation of the dismissal of Serhiy Rudchenko grounded by his improper exercise of authority at Kyiv Customs Office. Despite all of this, Rudchenko has maintained his position ever since.

10. Ruslan Cherkaskyi. He got under Romanenko’s assignment quota but factually was linked to future Head of Kyiv Municipal Customs Office Ihor Pikovskyi. It was planned to assign Mr. Cherkaskyi as Deputy Head of Kyiv Municipal Customs Office. According to his declaration of 2016, he factually worked as Deputy Chief of Customs Control Management of Kyiv Municipal Customs Office and was later appointed to a post of Logistics Management Chief of Kyiv Municipal Customs Office. Well, his patient wait was finally rewarded and in 2018 he was assigned as Head of Kyiv Municipal Customs Office in place of Serhiy Tupal’skyi.

11. Pankyavichyus Kastitis Al'himanto. He was a temporary candidate for a position of Acting Chief of Kyiv Municipal Customs Office backed by Romanenko. Since this senior position was under Kononenko’s quota, at that time it was taken by aforementioned Ihor Pikovskyi. So Mr. Pankyavichyus took over the post of Deputy Chief at Kyiv Customs Office and has held office as at 2018. He has got a solid track record in the field of Customs and, according to his income declaration, Mr. Pankyavichyus owns a number of assets in Boryspil region (Kyiv oblast), registered in his name and in the name of his wife.

12. Ihor Reznik. According to the list of Likarchuk, his assignment as Deputy Chief/Chief of Kirovohrad Customs Office referred to Kononenko’s quota. In fact, Mr. Reznik was initially appointed as Chief of the Analytical and Exploratory Work against Customs Violations Department, and then he became Deputy Director of Department / Chief of Customs Value Management of Customs Duties Administration Department of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine. According to his declaration, he has worked in that position to this present day. Mass media called Reznik one of the richest chiefs of the State Fiscal Service and pointed out his bonds with Volodymyr Skorobahach, Deputy of Kharkiv Municipal Council, known as meat smuggler and financial fraud controlling the department in Kyiv and supervising anti-smuggling subdivisions in the field as well.

13. Andriy Radchenko. He was proposed as candidate for a position of Head of Luhans’k Customs Office on a temporary basis. Mr. Radchenko was initially appointed as First Deputy Head of that Customs Office in 2015 and later on he was promoted to head. Radchenko has headed the customs checkpoint Lysychans’k until 2015. In 2018, Radchenko was accused of embezzlement of 1mln UAH per setting an increased cost of building renovation. It is not known whose quota Luhansk Customs Office is subject to at the moment since it was not indicated in the list of Likarchuk as the one referring to Kononenko and Romanenko. What’s really interesting is that Oleh Chernousov who had been Head of Luhansk Customs Office till December 2014, switched to the LPR (The Luhansk People’s Republic) and was assigned as Deputy Chief of the ‘LPR Head’s Administration’. Chernousov is a protégé of Leonid Pasichnyk, former Head of ‘K’ Subdivision of the Security Service of Ukraine and current Head of the LPR.

14. Iraklii Katamadze. He was recommended as candidate for a position of Customs Checkpoint Chief of Mykolayiv Customs Office. Mr Katamadze is most probably Kononenko’s protégé since Mykolayiv Customs Office belongs to his ‘quota-limited area’. His appointment to a post took place in June 2015. Shortly thereafter Katamadze had to switch to another position, though. He became Deputy Head of the Customs Office – Chief of Customs Violations Administration of Kyiv Municipal Customs Office of the State Fiscal Service. In June 2018 Iraklii was appointed as Acting Chief of Kyiv Municipal Customs Office. He also is the son of Grigol Katamadze, former ambassador of Georgia to Ukraine, who started to lead the Taxpayers Association of Ukraine after his resignation from the embassy. The post of First Vice President of this association is taken by Yuriy Atamanyuk, former Deputy Chief of the State Tax Service of Ukraine in the time of Yanukovych’s presidency. Atamanyuk was on trial for organization of mafia affiliated gang of Yanukovych and Klymenko and dealt with VAT refund schemes. Iraklii Katamadze was approved to join the structure of the State Fiscal Service for further financial schemes to be cultivated. And the association was created just to settle payments done for solution of private issues.

15. Ihor Ustymenko. He was jointly proposed as Head of Odessa Customs Office by Kononenko and Romanenko. The name of Mr. Ustymenko is linked to the former head of the organization by name Volodymyr Perederiy whom was accused of employing corruptive practices. Mr. Ustymenko is considered to be a partner of Vadym Alperin known as a professional smuggler. There is a fact confirming the link between Ustymenko and Perederiy: they worked together (from 1995 to 2003) at different customs offices accomplishing different ‘financial orders’ of corruptive nature. Ustymenko stayed in that position not for long. However, I didn’t manage to identify the period of his dismissal from that position since there was no Ustymenko’s declaration for 2015 in public access. But regarding his declaration for 2016, Mr. Ustymenko had already worked as Chief Inspector of Odessa Customs Office and quit that job in March 2017.

16. Andriy Serbin. He was proposed as temporary Head of Chuhunivka Customs Checkpoint in Kharkiv oblast until the appointment of Kharkiv Customs Office Head. Mr. Serbin worked as Chief Inspector of Hontivka Customs Checkpoint earlier and managed to go through the lustration process. Kharkiv Customs Offices finds itself under Ihor Kononenko’s quota. Apparently, Serbin was convenient for Kononenko as a candidate so he has headed that checkpoint until today. Some mass media accuse Serbin of employing corruptive practices to smuggle goods through Kharkiv boarders. From December 2014 to June 2016 the position of Head of Kharkiv Customs Offices was taken by Valeriy Ostapchuk. When being assigned as Head of Kharkiv Customs Offices, he was accused of fuel contraband and partnership with Vitalyi Khomutynnik. There was a number of attempts to dismiss Mr. Ostapchuk from that position and he was finally transferred as Deputy Head of Poltava Customs Office. In March 2018 he came back to Kharkiv Customs Offices but being demoted to Deputy Head. In 2016 Andriy Tantserov got the position of Acting Chief of the customs offices. He has long worked in Kharkiv region and most probably is Kononenko’s protégé.

17. Oleksandr Shavlak. He was subject to Romanenko’s quota as Head of Chernihiv Customs Office. As it was stated in the list of Likarchuk, Oleksandr Shavlak and Roman Nasirov were fellow countrymen and the latter one ‘subordinated Shavlak to Romanenko’. According to the declaration of the Head of Chernihiv Customs Office, his wife Lesya Shavlak is one of the owners of the private joint stock company ‘Charnihivoblbud’ that is engaged in construction of residential and non-residential buildings. Lesya Shavlak is the daughter of Viktor Demshchevskyi, former deputy of the Party of Regions and property developer, who got infamous by the incident when he tried to evict people from a hostel. Lesya’s company tried to take away plots of land, provided to families of the deceased in the ATO Chernihiv servicemen by the municipal council. The company wanted to get that land in favor of figure-heads through courts. Mr. Shavlak himself was accused of being involved in smuggling schemes for transferring Ukrainian amber and was redeployed to a post as Acting Chief of Volyn Customs Office in the midst of the scandal. However, in May 2016 his tenure in that position still wasn’t prolonged so he got back to Chernihiv Customs Office. I dare to remind you that Volyn Customs Office is under Romanenko’s quota as well.

18. Valentyn Kalashnikov. He was groomed to head Vinnytsya Customs Office referring to Romanenko’s quota. But in fact his appointment was backed by Stepan Derivolkov, former Deputy Minister of Taxes and Duties of Yanukovych’s presidency era, caught in 2016 by the Security Service of Ukraine in an attempt to escape from the country (after a while that information was refuted). Derivolkov’s name was mentioned in the initial part of this article. He belonged to that circle of individuals who controlled the customs together with Kaletnyk and was spared by the new authorities owing to his ability to deal and do business with them. Mr. Derivolkov planned to give the position of Head of Vinnytsya Customs Office to his friend Yuriy Matsibora (Chief of Mohyliv Customs Checkpoint). However, Matsibora declined the proposal and advised to appoint Valentyn Kalashnikov instead of him as they worked together at Dnister Customs Checkpoint of Vinnytsya Customs Office. Initially, Yuriy Matsybora himself took over the post of Deputy Head of Vinnytsya Customs Office and was later promoted to its Head in 2016. In 2018 the Security Service of Ukraine started to carry out a criminal proceeding as regards the criminal organization Mr. Kalashnikov and Mr Matsybora were involved in inflicting losses to the state in the amount of 305mln UAH.

19. Ruslan Kuz’menko. It was planned to assign him as Acting Chief of Zhytomyr Customs Office according to Romanenko’s quota. Ruslan Kuz’menko is the nephew of Mykola Kalenskyi, current member of the Council of the National Bank of Ukraine (acting as Chairman of the State Tax Service of Ukraine in the period from 2001 to 2005). Taking into account the list of Likarchuk, Mr. Kuz’menko is one of the closest to Romanenko partners known as his private accountant. He was repeatedly involved in criminal investigations. Ruslan was appointed to a post at Kyiv Customs Office and not at the one in Zhytomyr. Kuz’menko had worked there till 2018. Instead of Kuzmenko the post of Zhytomyr Customs Office Head was taken by Nataliya Tkachuk who stayed in the position till October 2017.

20. Oleh Surshko. He was proposed as candidate by Romanenko and most probably Nasirov. He was lobbied as Head of Zaporizhia Customs Office but got a position of its Acting Chief instead. However, Surshko was lowered in rank to Chief Inspector of the Interregional Customs Office of the State Fiscal Service. Such a demotion resulted from the corruption scandal based on accusations of losses in the amount of more than 40mln UAH inflicted to the state by Surshko. After the liquidation of the Interregional Customs Office, he tried to become Head of Kirovohrad Customs Office and Deputy Head of Zakarpattiya Customs Office (under Kononenko’s quota). Such attempts were to no effect and in November 2018 he left the civil service.

21. Levko Prokipchuk. He was proposed as Head of Lviv Customs Office under Romanenko’s quota and the appointment actually took place. In the late 2000s, Prokipchuk worked together with Romanenko when the latter one worked at Lviv Customs Office as Deputy Head. Mr. Prokipchuk is described as a weak and compliant person who has never taken influential positions. He earlier served as Legal Department Chief and Chief of Staff of Lviv Customs Office. Despite the poor description, he was still assigned. According to Prokipchuk’s declaration, his wife, Orysya Prokipchuk, is the main breadwinner of the family. Even having a baby (there are 3 kids in the family) she managed to make 1mln UAH in 2017. Besides, Orysya worked as an assistant of Lev Pidlisetskyi, Deputy from the political party ‘Self Reliance’. In 2016 Mr. Prokipchuk was subject to a criminal proceeding. It was initiated against him based on systematic illegal benefits (in the amount of more than 500k USD) he had received from the subordinate to him employees for turning a blind eye to their illicit customs registration of goods crossing the state border of Ukraine. Throughout his work Lviv Customs Office was in the spotlight of numerous corruption scandals. Eventually, Levko Prokipchuk submitted his resignation in October 2018 being pressed by activists.

22. Oleksandr Kurok. He was proposed as Head of Poltava Customs Office. According to the list of Likarchuk, this customs office is not subject to the quota of Kononenko. So he was not assigned to a post at that customs office and got a position as Chief of Department at Bachevsk Checkpoint that referred to Sumy Customs Office. A bit later Mr. Kurok finally started to head the whole checkpoint. Sumy Customs Office is under Kononenko’s quota and Poltava Customs Office was headed by Mykola Kalinichenko till October 2015. He was dismissed due to lustration for a term of 10 years. But after 2 years he lodged a complaint against that decision and returned to service on January 15, 2018.

23. Mykhaylo Bahatyrchuk. He was proposed as candidate of Hennadyi Romanenko and Roman Mykytyuk, former Head of Volyn Customs Office and Deputy the Party of Regions. That Customs Office was subject to Romanenko’s quota. But the position as Deputy Head of Volyn Customs Office was taken over by Mr. Bahatyrchuk. A bit later he was promoted to Head of Ustyluh Customs Checkpoint referred to Volyn Customs Office. There’s one more interesting fact about this personality: During searches of Volyn Customs Office managers, that were conducted in August 2017, Viktor Kryvitskyi, Head of Volyn Customs Office, and his Deputy Heads Leonid Herman and Vasyl Nehrych together with Oleksandr Onikiychuk, Head of Yahodyn Customs Checkpoint got into the list of officials to be searched and Mykhaylo Bahatyrchuk managed to somehow avoid it.

24. Oleh Kravchenko. He was proposed as Kononenko’s candidate for a position of Head of Sumy Customs Office. Until such an appointment (in July 2015 he was appointed as First Deputy Chief of the Customs Office) Kravchenko worked as Deputy Chief of Kharkiv Customs Office. But in about a month he got a new position of Regional Department Head of Ukraine’s State Property Fund and it happened owing to Kononenko again. Let me remind you, according to the list of Likarchuk, Kharkiv oblast was subject to Kononenko’s quota.

25. Volodymyr Kravchenko. He was proposed by Kaletnyk and Bulyuk as candidate for a position of Acting Chief of Kherson Customs Office. Vitalyi Bulyuk is Head of Kherson Customs Office, who was appointed to a position of Deputy Chairman of Kherson Regional Council. It became clear from the comments of Likarchuk’s list that Kravchenko’s appointment was done just in order to hold the spot for Bulyuk, who had long been trying to cancel his lustration in the court and led the customs office at the same time. Bulyuk is a friend of Kaletnyk and worked with him as far back as in 90es when Kaletnyk headed Kherson Customs Office. Mr. Bulyuk has got a long track record with corruptive implications ranging from criminal scheming to abuse of power and authority. Volodymyr Kravchenko was appointed to a post as Deputy Head of Kherson Customs Office and he’s run it until today (including the Autonomy Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol). At first, the position of Acting Chief of the Customs Office was taken by Mr. Kryvoruchko and then by Myhaylo Zakalynskyi who promoted fake export processing. But regarding the comment, it seems apparent that Vitalyu Bulyuk didn’t give up ruling the customs office and was still in there. On September 18, 2018, Hennadiy Ivanenko was chosen as new Acting Chief of Kherson Customs Office having left the Customs Office in Odessa. And he was also accused of corruption by former Head of the Customs Office Yuliya Marushevska.

26. Oleksandr Gorbov. He tried to take over the position of Cherkasy Customs Office Head covered by Kononenko’s quota. But due to absence of such arrangements from Kononenko, Mr. Horbunov was taken down in the course of lustration and was dismissed from his position at Mykolayiv Customs Office. His place was taken by Iraklii Katamadze, I’d written about earlier.

As you might have already guessed, after Poroshenko’s coming to power and placing the right overseers in the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine, all of the aforementioned individuals have been handing over kickbacks to their curators while Poroshenko remained the ultimate beneficiary of these corrupt assignments.