Chairman of the State Customs Service of Ukraine Ihor Kaletnik has claimed that deputies of Lviv Regional Council are demanding his dismissal because their close relatives have been fired from Lviv Customs Service for being involved in smuggling in 2010.
"It’s obvious that attempts to put things to order at Lviv Customs Service would see resistance from those who came to the local authorities to have an opportunity to hide their business schemes, in particular, connected with smuggling. It’s not surprising that among 124 employees of Lviv Customs Service dismissed in 2010 for violations of the law and participation in goods smuggling, there are many close relatives of the deputies of Lviv Regional Council and other well-known people in Lviv region," reads a statement of Kaletnik distributed by the press service of the State Customs Service on the evening of March 9.
The statement reads that the fight against smuggling, as a result of which a number of officials have been dismissed from Lviv Customs Service, considerably increased budget revenues in 2010.
"A black hole of smuggling, which was the main source of illegal income for many local politicians and business elite, has been closed at Lviv Customs Service. As a result, in 2010 Lviv Customs officials transferred to the budget about Hr 3.4 billion in payments, which isHr 772.7 million or 30percenthigher than in 2009. In January-February 2011 Lviv Customs Service transferred Hr 494 million, which is 50 percent higher year-over-year… In 2009 the value of Polish exports exceeded the value of Ukrainian imports by 12 percent, which is almost $400 million. This means that this was the volume of smuggling that crossed Ukrainian-Polish border… In 2010, for the first time in the years of Ukraine’s independence, the value of Ukrainian imports from Poland differs from the value of Polish exports by 0.1 percent, which is a tribute to the State Customs Service headed by me," the statement reads.
Kaletnik said the decision of Lviv Regional Council to address Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych with a demand to change the management of the State Customs Service was "confirmation of the fact that [my] measures for putting things to order at Lviv Customs Service were successful, that’s why they meet the national interests of Ukraine."
"Despite the crude political pressure from officials, deputies, businessmen, employees of the State Customs Service involved in abuses, corruption and smuggling, I will continue following the constitution and the legislation of Ukraine, and in the future I will protect the state’s interests, so that the state receives all customs duties in time, and so that the state budget had assets for public health, education and the social needs of Ukrainian citizens," Kaletnik said.
