The Cabinet of Ministers will investigate accusations of corruption and other abuses recently brought against the heads of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has said.
“The government has decided to investigate all the facts published by the media regarding the work of both the heads of the State Fiscal Service and its local offices,” he said at a government meeting in Kyiv on Sept. 16.
Yatsenyuk said that a simple change of senior officials will not make the State Fiscal Service, the customs agency, or any other government agency work efficiently.
“We’ve changed the heads at some state companies and agencies twice or even three times. The effect lasts for only a few months. Without a radical and drastic change in the system, we’ll be only changing their names and name plates,” he said, referring to the successful launch of new police forces in some Ukrainian cities.
Yatsenyuk tasked the government with approving a completely new structure of the State Fiscal Service.
“All should be dismissed. Heads of the fiscal service in the regions and districts and of the tax police, which will be disbanded in future, should be shortlisted in the same fashion as was the case with national police: tests, and a transparent competition,” Yatseniuk said.
He also called for the involvement of the business ombudsman, the public, and entrepreneurs in the process.
As reported, after being dismissed on September 7, deputy head of the State Fiscal Service Kostiantyn Likarchuk, who was in charge of customs, on the following day published copies of documents allegedly proving that State Fiscal Service head Roman Nasirov owns an apartment in London, which was not included in his income declaration.
Two days later, Likarchuk posted copies of new documents on his blog, claiming that Nasirov was involved in a criminal case related to embezzlement of state funds worth UAH 20 million.
Nasirov was selected as State Fiscal Service during a competition this spring after the Cabinet on March 23, 2015, considered the results of an internal investigation into the former heads of the State Fiscal Service’s tax and customs divisions and accepted recommendations to dismiss tax police chief Volodymyr Khomenko and customs head Anatoliy Makarenko.
Head of the State Fiscal Service Bilous was left to head the agency on the condition that he would submit a plan to improve its work. However, Bilous subsequently resigned. Yatseniuk accepted his resignation, criticized the service’s performance, and went on to announce that the agency had failed to fight corruption and promised to purge its personnel.
