Corruption at customs: how the State Customs Service is fighting bribery
The unreformed customs service has declared war on corruption by putting up posters with the slogan “Don’t offer, we don’t take.” In this way, the State Customs Service is warning citizens and businesses about the consequences of offering bribes at customs. However, they have clearly decided to work in the wrong direction.
We know how customs officials “don’t take” after nearly a million dollars in cash was seized at the Volyn customs office during searches in a corruption case.
Fighting corruption at Customs
Let us remind you: we found out that the first deputy head of the State Customs Service, Vladislav Suvorov, registered property worth 5 million hryvnias in his mother’s name, but actively uses it himself. He has been working at customs for 15 years.
And the first deputy head of the Kyiv Customs, Pavlo Sych, registered a property worth 8 million hryvnias in his mother-in-law’s name and a whole fleet of cars for the rest of his family. This is yet another example of corruption in the customs system.
Other customs officials
We also remember the following other individuals associated with customs:
Ilya Nizhnikov is the current head of the Transcarpathian Customs. He was spotted driving while intoxicated in 2016. He owns a plot of land in Crimea, 20% of which belongs to individuals associated with the United Russia party. In 2022, Nizhnikov was dismissed from his position as head of the Lviv Customs Office for being unfit for the position.
Konstantin Gordecki is the head of the Southern Customs Office. His family owns property at a significantly undervalued price. In 2020, Gordecki received a reprimand for the unsatisfactory work of the Odessa Customs Office’s anti-smuggling department, which he headed at the time.
Mykhailo Miroshnychenko – former head of the Odessa Customs Office. He was dismissed from the customs office for “grain schemes”: according to the conclusions of the Temporary Investigation Commission, the amount of budget losses from the circulation of “black grain” in August-September 2022 alone was about UAH 5 billion. The women in his family play the role of “keepers” of luxury property.