Ukrainian Finance Minister Oleksandr Danylyuk has sent a letter to the G7 ambassadors to prevent possible misunderstanding or manipulation with information about his dispute with Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, the Ukrainian economic news outlet Ekonomichna Pravda said with reference to the letter.
“This is to inform you about the conflict between [the] Prime Minister and myself that happened publicly during the CMU [Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine] meeting today [the date of the letter is not mentioned]. My intention is to avoid possible misunderstandings or manipulation,” said the letter shared by Ekonomichna Pravda on May 31.
As reported, Danylyuk unsuccessfully tried at a Cabinet meeting on May 23 to get his adviser Yana (Jana) Bugrimova appointed as deputy minister. The public broadcast of the meeting was terminated, but those who were present there told Interfax-Ukraine that after a short squabble with Groysman, the minister’s request was rejected. In the course of the exchange of views, Danylyuk even announced his resignation letter would be drawn up.
In addition, Danylyuk’s letter also mentions attempts of the president of Ukraine to appoint a person lobbied by MP Ihor Kononenko or head of the parliamentary committee on tax and customs policy Nina Yuzhanina to that post.
“As a background: I’ve been insisting on appointing Jana for more than two years – since my first days in the office. The president was strongly pushing to appoint people lobbied by Kononenko/Yuzhanina [sic] – he insisted on Umansky [Ihor Umansky, the former first deputy finance minister] and then later on Vorobei [Svitlana Vorobei, the deputy head of the secretariat of the Verkhovna Rada’s tax and customs policy committee], threatening to block my candidates if I disagree,” the letter said.
What is more, the minister’s letter also mentioned the situation around the appointment of the permanent head of the State Fiscal Service (SFS) of Ukraine and his/her deputy.
“You know that the acting head [of the SFS] is very close and loyal to PM. He was in position for more than [a] year in direct contradiction with the law,” the letter said.
According to the letter, Danylyuk proposed that Groysman submit a request for the minister’s dismissal to parliament.
The Finance Ministry of Ukraine does not comment on the information.
A source at the ministry confirmed the fact that the letter had been sent, however, found it difficult to say whether the shared letter is the final version.
