Back
Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
✍️rubric - people write to me✍️
📥 "In light of recent high-profile publications about corruption-related arrests (including at the Vinnytsia customs office), we want to draw your attention to an equally outrageous personnel case that is unfolding right now at the Zhytomyr customs office 🛃
We hope for your independence, integrity, and principled approach in covering this material.
This concerns a widespread practice in which, under the cover of the status “acting” (acting) for strategic, corruption-risk positions, officials who are already officially under indictment are appointed.
A specific example: Yakovenko Anzhela Viktorivna. According to the official NACP Declaration Register, this person previously worked at the Dnipro and Rivne customs offices.
After criminal proceedings were opened under part 2 of article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (abuse of power or official position with grave consequences), she was transferred to the Zhytomyr customs office.
At the new location she was registered as a chief state inspector, but almost immediately was granted the status of acting head of the customs valuation department.
Such a career rise did not happen by accident. According to information, in Zhytomyr she was met by a long-time colleague from their joint work in Rivne — the current deputy head of Zhytomyr customs, Pryharskyi Roman Petrovych.
It appears that this “Rivne local connection” provided the defendant with carte blanche.
Immediately after receiving the position, Yakovenko A.V. clearly informed the staff: from now on she alone will decide all issues regarding determination and adjustment of customs value. Any independence of rank-and-file inspectors is blocked.
As a result, all importers in the region were quickly split into two groups:
1. “Green corridor”: businesses that agreed to management’s terms and are processed without the slightest obstacles.
2. “Checkpoint”: inconvenient companies that are artificially subjected to constant problems — regular groundless inspections, time delays, and frequent decisions to raise customs value “out of thin air.”
At present, the criminal case against Yakovenko A.V. under article 364 part 2 is already in court. However, her defense has adopted the classic tactic — court hearings are constantly postponed to delay proceedings. While the courts are on pause, the person under indictment for a corruption offense daily “terrorizes” business in favor of a particular office. And using the “acting” mechanism via an internal customs order made it possible to simply bypass mandatory special checks by the SBI and NACP.
We would very much like to hear public explanations from the leadership of Zhytomyr customs and from Mr. Pryharskyi in particular: how, during wartime, is a person under indictment for a corruption charge appointed to a key position?
We also appeal to the Head of the State Migration Service. We ask that you take personal control of this personnel precedent and the schemes for dividing business at the Zhytomyr customs office. As long as defendants obtain leadership posts through loopholes with the “acting” status, no systemic customs reforms will restore public and business trust."
To date this person has already received a permanent position, while her criminal cases are still in court! We hope that the current leadership will pay attention to this fact and will more seriously vet people for managerial positions!"📥
🍿 🍿 🍿
Telegram publication
