Economy Minister Aivaras Abromavicius didn’t just resign on Feb. 3 – he blew the whistle on a still-corrupt system, saying his departure after just 14 months on the job was meant to deliver a “cold shower” to the country’s leaders.
Abromavicius is the third reform-minded minister to leave the government in less than two months.
“Evil forces still want to wind things back,” Abromavicius told reporters at a news conference on Feb. 3 that had initially been scheduled to discuss privatization efforts. “Let’s get rid of all those who shamelessly siphon billions off the Ukrainian economy.”
Abromavicius, a Lithuania-born fund manager appointed as a minister on Dec. 2, 2014, blamed corrupt and vested interests for blocking attempts to modernize and sell state-owned enterprises, as well as rid them of mismanagement.
Ihor Kononenko
“I would like to name one today,” Abromavicius said. “The name is Ihor Kononenko.”
Kononenko, a longtime Poroshenko business partner and deputy head of the president’s parliamentary faction, was attempting to install cronies at key state-owned enterprises in a bid to assert control over the firms, Abromavicius said.
Abromavicius was among the best known of a group of foreigners and Western-educated officials taking top positions since Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s election on May 25, 2014. Others include Chicago-born Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko and Odesa Oblast Governor Mikheil Saakashvili, the former president of Georgia.
Abromavicius’ exit also triggered the departures of four of his top deputies — Yulia Klymenko, Max Nefyodov, Yulia Kovaliv, and Nataliya Mykolska. More resignations are expected to follow.
The economy minister’s resignation was preceded by months of foot dragging to sell off state-owned enterprises which had lost more than $5 billion in 2014. Due to the economy minister’s efforts, they only lost about a combined $640 million last year. Abromavicius had made privatization a key promise at the start of his tenure, but he did not manage to privatize any noteworthy assets, partly because parliament had not given the green light.
Abromavicius accused Kononenko of attempting to stack the Economy Ministry with his own cronies – a pattern of behavior that appeared to escalate in its audacity.
“I don’t want to go to Davos and talk about our successes, when behind my back decisions are being made for the benefit of certain people,” Abromavicius said.
Can’t fire company head
Kononenko propped up corrupt officials at a state-owned chemical transport company, Abromavicius claimed. In an October interview with the Kyiv Post, Abromavicius said that his attempts to oust Ukrhimtransamiak head Viktor Bondyk, who has ties to the Party of Regions led by ex-President Viktor Yanukovych, had failed due to the man’s ability to “outlast seven ministers.”
Kononenko countered on Feb. 3 saying that he also proposed removing Bondyk.
But while resigning, Abromavicius suggested that Kononenko was personally profiting from the company.
The outgoing minister said Kononenko “failed to support me in removing Mr. Bondyk, who is affiliated with the Party of Regions, as CEO. Instead, Mr. Kononenko ensured his associates were appointed to senior positions and joined the old CEO in running the company as they see fit.”
In a separate interview with weekly news magazine Novoye Vremya, Abromavicius discussed problems at two other state-owned enterprises: the Elektrotyazhmash heavy engineering plant and chemical firm OGKhK.
According to the outgoing official, discussions about reforming the two companies with Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk were unfruitful.
“I discussed with him the problem of the leadership of OGKhK – where everything is sold through shell companies,” Abromavicius said, referring to his unsuccessful attempts to fire OGKhK chief Ruslan Zhurilo.
Installing cronies
Recent attempts to install cronies at state-run oil and gas giant Naftogaz and defense holding company Ukrobornprom finally led him to resign. Kononenko’s “candidate simply showed up with a complete set of documentation, and told me: ‘I want to be your deputy. I’m part of Kononenko’s team, and my appointment was approved upstairs,’” Abromavicius said.
“Following this conversation, I received a call from the presidential administration,” he said, “whereby it was emphatically suggested that I hire this individual, as well as another one who would take the position of my deputy in charge of the defense industry.”
That’s when Abromavicius decided to quit, “declining to take part in this corrupt arrangement and by offering to resign my post.” The resignation also short-circuited Kononenko’s attempt to have the minister fired.
‘A cold shower’
Abromavicius offered no proof for his allegations against Kononenko, but said he hoped that the resignation would “be a cold shower for the country’s leaders.” Kononenko disputed the allegations against him and called Abromavicius’s statements “an emotional reaction” relating to “statements about dissatisfaction with his work.”
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau has announced it is looking into Abromavicius’s allegations.
During his resignation announcement, Abromavicius lauded his team’s accomplishments.
“We achieved macroeconomic stabilization and enabled economic growth,” Abromavicius said, citing the ProZorro public procurement system as an example that would close “the air supply to crooks of all shapes and sizes.”
Sasha Borovik, a Saakashvili adviser, told the Kyiv Post that while Abromavicius had been one of the most effective ministers, his resignation may have been partly engineered to distract from a potentially lackluster report on the ministry’s progress to be released next week.
“I applaud him, but I wish he had done better,” Borovik said.
Abromavicius’s predecessor, Pavlo Sheremeta, cited similar reasons for his resignation, saying in August 2014 that he could not work with “yesterday’s people.”
Abromavicius’ resignation statement can be read here.
