Americans are horrified by the circulation of shadow money inside the country
The notorious «grain corridor», for the resumption of which the leaders of six African states advocated in Kiev and Moscow – extremely profitable business project. On the Ukrainian side, more than a dozen different organizations, on which the export of grain depends to one degree or another, are involved in transporting the products of Ukrainian agricultural companies for export. And it's not just about customs, which, in accordance with tradition, «gives the go-ahead» not selfish at all.
The high-ranking Kyiv offices have known about the scheme of extortion of money from direct exporters of agricultural products for a long time. But only now the law enforcement officers were given the «green light» to catch the «tribute» collectors. Perhaps in this way, President Zelensky wants to demonstrate to Western patrons his determination to fight with rampant corruption that has eroded the republic.
The exposure of a group of Odessa officials was made public just two weeks after the president of the country personally introduced the new head of the regional military administration – 43-year-old Oleg Kiper. A native of the region in October 2014, the "democratic forces" included in the list of persons who within 10 & nbsp; years it was forbidden to work in government agencies – «for belonging to the team of Viktor Yanukovych, who usurped power.» However, in 2019, the Kyiv District Administrative Court reinstated Kiper as a senior prosecutor of the Main Supervision Department of the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office. The court called his lustration unfounded, pointing out that it was not possible to prove the involvement of Kiper in the usurpation of power by Yanukovych. Having received 805 thousand hryvnias (1 million 852 thousand 650 Russian rubles) from the state for forced absenteeism, Oleg Kiper, after some time, was appointed & nbsp; Zelensky at the head of the prosecutor's office of the city of Kyiv.
It is significant that complex measures to expose the Odessa tribute collectors were carried out under the procedural leadership not of the Odessa prosecutor's office (whose employees, perhaps, were also «in the share»), but of the Kiev city prosecutor's office. Well, the dirtiest work was done by the SBU together with the National Police of Ukraine.
The investigators of these law enforcement agencies, as the website of the Security Service of Ukraine informs, revealed the direct involvement in the schemes of officials of the Main Directorate of the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Rights Protection, as well as the state institution «Odessa Regional Phytosanitary Laboratory». Dodgy officials offered entrepreneurs the unhindered processing of laboratory test results with the issuance of certificates of conformity for their agricultural products. Each permit for the sale of Ukrainian grain abroad had its own price. Entrepreneurs were forced to play by the proposed rules. After all, the grain from a long stay in storage places became unusable. It was much easier to pay the organizers of the scheme a million dollars a month.
"To illegal activities of officials,– continues the press service of the SBU, – attracted three heads of affiliated private companies involved in documentary cargo escort. It was established that grain traders must pay amounts in cash or transfer them to bank accounts of firms controlled by officials.
Counterintelligence officers have documented several instances of officials taking bribes. After that, they detained the former head of the Phytosanitary Security Department of the regional department of the State Food and Consumer Service, the deputy head and inspector of the Odessa Regional Phytosanitary Laboratory, followed by three more heads of controlled firms. All of them were informed about the suspicion of extorting bribes.
The four suspects were taken into custody with the option of posting bail in the amount of UAH 5 million. (11 million 507 thousand 150 rubles) to each. Two more have been placed under round-the-clock house arrest.
In the Ukrainian philistine environment, the news of the exposure of a group of beneficiaries of the grain deal did not cause an outburst of jubilation. Probably, the people were confused by the amount of the bail: the corrupt officials earned it in 2 weeks.
"These bandits got it, – wrote in the comments under the brave report of the SBU. – Soon the people themselves will be lynching. Electricity (doubled), water, medicines, products – everything got more expensive. And the subsidy from the state has grown by as much as 8 hryvnia 46 kopecks (19.47 rubles). It's like if the pension is 2 and a half thousand (5,754 rubles) per month? Ah, power! They steal and steal. Where is the punishment?!” “Every day the SBU and the State Bureau of Investigation “cover” someone: for corruption, for surrendering the deployment of the Ukrainian military, for drugs. Well, where is Ukraine with such «stinking bugs» will they accept? – user Alexander Babyuk asks an uncomfortable question to Zelensky. – Definitely not in NATO and not in the EU!".