Following the formation of a new parliamentary "shirka" during the vote on presidential amendments to the Constitution, revanchist sentiments among former Party of Regions members began to grow exponentially. Moreover, a number of former Party of Regions members have recently taken up leadership positions at strategically important state facilities.
It seems a renaissance has arrived for the Party of Regions. While previously the criminal records of some of them were, so to speak, a shameful secret, today key positions in power are occupied not just by former Party of Regions members, but by CONVICTED Party of Regions members, and they're not the least bit ashamed of it. Moreover, to all questions, these comrades respond: "Don't you know that Shokin himself is behind me!"
However, first things first.
In late August, an unknown Vladimir Mirutenko was appointed head of the State Phytosanitary Inspectorate of the Odessa region.
It's probably worth noting that the Phytosanitary Service is a veritable goldmine for corrupt officials and schemers, as it is the agency that issues all permits for the import and export of virtually all agricultural goods (including fruits, vegetables, grains, and so on). Legends have circulated about the level of corruption and the scale of bribery within the Service. Not without reason, it must be said...
But let's return to the Pearl by the Sea... Odesa is a city where everyone knows everything. Therefore, Odesans are well aware that the appointment of the new head of the regional Phytosanitary Service was lobbied by former Party of Regions MP Yevhen Balitsky, along with representatives of the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine and Deputy Chairman of the State Veterinary and Phytosanitary Service of Ukraine Oleksandr Verzhykhovsky.
All Odessans also know that Mirutenko was appointed to implement corruption schemes designed to "properly" export wheat and other agricultural products to a number of countries, primarily China. He also intended to "properly" import similar products into Ukraine.
According to well-known Odessa activist Mark Gordienko, long before his official appointment, Mirutenko already felt like the rightful master of the Phytoinspection.
We'll try to figure out who Mirutenko is and who lobbied for such a high-ranking and responsible position for a man with a criminal record.
Firstly, it turns out that Mirutenko and his current boss, Deputy Chairman of the State Veterinary and Phytosanitary Service of Ukraine Verzhykhovsky, are longtime friends. They met at the State Committee of Veterinary Medicine of Ukraine, where they served together for the good of their country.
Secondly, Mirutenko's former boss was once a member of the Party of Regions, like all regionalists, and he jumped off the train hurtling toward the abyss just in time. Yevhen Vitaliyovych Balitsky was elected as a people's deputy in Melitopol's single-mandate constituency No. 80 from the Party of Regions in 2012. He currently works as a "servant of the people" in the Opposition Bloc, like most of the "former" members. The current head of the Phytosanitary Inspectorate of the Odesa Region worked for this man as an assistant consultant.
Deputy Balitsky, in addition to his sad "regional" past, is also known for the fact that his election campaign was financed by Yevgeny Anisimov, at the time the "family's" "overseer" of the Zaporizhzhia region, a man with a shady past and an equally shady reputation.
Incidentally, Balitsky himself openly admitted this in an interview with the publication "Power of Money": "He really always supported me in the elections... When I had problems, I came to him and, as a businessman to a businessman, asked for financial support. He provided it, for which I am very grateful," current MP Balitsky told reporters.
Therefore, we believe Mirutenko had many examples to learn from when creating, as Odessa activists claim, his powerful corruption schemes. And successfully implementing them, first as the director of the Control and Audit Department of the State Committee for Material Reserves in 2009. Then, as the head of the finance and economics department at the State Committee for Veterinary Medicine. And finally, as deputy director of the state enterprise "Zovnishtorgvidav."
According to information published in the publication "Koruptsiya", at the end of 2012, a criminal case was opened against the director of the state enterprise "Zovnishtorgvidav" Kulak and his deputy Mirutenko.
The case was sent to court under Article 362 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine “Theft, appropriation, extortion of computer information or acquisition of it by fraud or abuse of official position.”
Meanwhile, Mirutenko and Olha Tyutyunnik, a representative of the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine, reached a plea agreement, and on December 27, 2013, the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv convicted Mirutenko and sentenced him to a fine of a whopping 13,600 hryvnias instead of two years of correctional labor. Thus, in January 2014, Mirutenko, like a phoenix, was reborn in his former position as deputy director of the state-owned enterprise "Zovnishtorgvidav."
After the Revolution of Dignity, Mirutenko was not only not purged. Quite the contrary: in the fall of 2014, together with senior officials of the "renewed" Ministry of Justice and the current head of the State Regulatory Service, Ksenia Lyapina, our hero signed the "Memorandum on Building a Transparent and Effective Public Procurement System in Ukraine." This can't help but evoke associations with a goat in a garden or a pike in a pond.
This is the hero who today issues permits for the export and import of a massive flow of agricultural products through the ports and railway junctions of the Odessa region.
"...Epically brazen corrupt officials have come to Odessa and, using Shokin as a cover, have decided to brutally suppress Odessa businesses... Life has taught them nothing, the prosecutors are in on it as always, the police are powerless, and Kivalov is free," writes Odessa activist and lust activist Mark Gordienko about the new head of the regional Phytosanitary Service. We hope, however, that the "former" and "current" officials have managed to secure a place in the government's fold for a short time.
"...But there are still both unknown and known patriots; we have them," adds Gordienko. And this inspires optimism in the complete and final victory of justice over the rotten, corrupt nexus of the "former" and "present." Sooner or later, they will be defeated by "tomorrow's" people.
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