Details of the Ukrzaliznytsia scandal: 23 simultaneous searches, corruption worth millions. VIDEO

Last week, "guests" from the SBU visited the management of Ukrzaliznytsia. They searched for evidence of corruption in as many as 23 offices simultaneously and reportedly found it. The largest special operation against public money laundering took place only six months after the victory of the Maidan.
"More than seven million hryvnias in cash, more than a million dollars in cash, and offshore documentation were seized from private homes, garages, and other hidden places where they hid stolen goods from just one of the executives, which attests to the existence of a massive corruption scheme," TSN quotes SBU head Valentyn Nalyvaichenko as saying.
It's hard to believe, but we're talking about the railway's new management. One of them is First Deputy General Director Maksym Blank. They say bags stuffed with cash and interesting documents about offshore routes used to transfer these millions outside of Ukraine were found in his home.
Ukrzaliznytsia has responded to the searches with a peculiar tone. "Elections are underway, and we need to demonstrate some activity," said Taras Pastushenko, head of the Ukrzaliznytsia press service.
However, the current head of Ukrzaliznytsia, Borys Ostapyuk, is in itself grounds for investigation. He held senior positions under all governments and was dismissed twice for labor violations: as deputy general director of Ukrzaliznytsia and as head of Donetsk Railway. He has been implicated in several criminal corruption cases. How he came to lead one of the country's largest monopolies remains a mystery.
"The executives practically created and ran a money-laundering syndicate for years, embezzling state-owned enterprises. In the transportation industry, they used corruption schemes to steal hryvnias from virtually every passenger, failed to pay into the budget, laundered the money, and, as a criminal organization, enjoyed protection, including from politicians," emphasizes SBU Director Valentyn Nalyvaichenko.
Essentially, Ukrzaliznytsia, and it's no secret, has long had the reputation of being a corrupt state within a state, where management profits from kickbacks from tenders through controlled shell companies. These companies, also known as service firms, still exist. Contracts are signed with them, and millions of hryvnias are transferred to them. Some of these firms are owned by representatives of the former government. Lower-level officials profit from corrupt schemes at train stations. For example, cashiers sell tickets to citizens at inflated prices. These are real violations that have been discovered.
At night, the station's management confiscates tokens from the machines and, for some reason, forgets to process them through the accounting department. "The station's management received 40 rubles a month for its own needs," says Alexander Krasichkov, head of the anti-corruption department for railway transport.
Could Oleksiy Krivopishin, the head of the Southwestern Railway and the one who, by the way, has been running it since 2006, not have known about this? "Every railway station, every director, every railway supplier, every insurance company—all of this was orchestrated by criminals in power this time, into a single system of money laundering and theft," the head of the SBU explains.
Lustration was supposed to decapitate these schemes. But the "dragon" of corruption often grows two heads instead of one. Could the same thing happen with Ukrzaliznytsia, where the ultimate beneficiaries will simply be changed?

TSN

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