Bagrat Akhidzhanov, Director of the Department of Financial and Credit Policy of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food
For the second year running, Ukrainians have been told about lustration and the purge of power. While progress is visible in some places, many "predecessors" still linger in the offices of many government agencies, sitting on the slate and overseeing long-established corruption schemes.
They, apparently, like Soviet general secretaries of old, intend to leave their entrenched positions only feet first. This is not surprising—a corrupt official is unlikely to voluntarily leave a lucrative position that allows them to earn millions. Many of them have occupied their niches and have continued to steadily and steadily embezzle budget funds for years.
They worked under both Yushchenko and Yanukovych. They're still working under Poroshenko. The question is: for how long? Will the new leaders be able to demonstrate character and prove that they're not just replacements for the old staff, but truly honest officials who care, among other things, about preventing theft within their departments (and throughout the country as a whole)?
For example, the Ministry of Agriculture has a rather mediocre director of the Department of Financial and Credit Policy, Bagrat Akhidzhanov. He assumed his position back in 2006, but still holds the position successfully today.
One could only be happy for the ministry and such an employee who has dedicated so many years to the sector, and specifically to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy. However, there is one very serious issue regarding Bagrat Rafikovich, which would be appreciated from ministry officials or the person involved.
Just a couple of years ago, a major media scandal erupted over kickbacks on subsidies. The amount was then reported as 40%, which was supposed to be handed over to a ministry official. In terms of numbers, in 2011, 2,5 billion hryvnias were transferred to milk producers alone. Akhidzhanov was, and still is, responsible for these transfers.
Rural subsidies are an interesting topic overall. They were established as a temporary measure back in 1998, yet our Rada extends their lifespan every year. On the one hand, villages need state support. However, the subsidy scheme, as we see, breeds corruption. And the official, sitting in his office in Kyiv, essentially manually decides who gets these subsidies and who doesn't. Alternatively, he could even allocate them for already dead livestock, or simply "saw off" the money with his accomplices—the other parties in the deal. Options and temptations abound when you work in a ministry in a top position as Director of the Department of Financial and Credit Policy.
Knowing that it's not always a good idea to put all your eggs in one basket, and that Ukraine's agricultural sector is very promising, Akhidzhanov also placed his family members in important positions in related fields.
Akhidzhanov's daughter, Karina, is apparently so talented that, despite her relatively young age, she has enjoyed a meteoric rise in her career and is now the head of the financial planning and accountability department at PJSC Agrarian Fund. His wife, meanwhile, serves the country as deputy chief accountant at the State Food and Grain Corporation of Ukraine, which is involved in, among other things, grain exports.
Needless to say, given this setup and connections, the Akhidzhanov family has been regularly robbing ordinary people for years now.
On top of all this, the notorious nepotism is evident. Members of the same family essentially help and collaborate with each other at the level of the structures where they work. And there would be nothing wrong with this if we weren't talking about state-owned enterprises, state funds, and government contracts!
The new government has already demonstrated examples of working in the interests of the people. In particular, Ukrainians have already seen that, in addition to a new police force on the streets of major cities, new officials working according to European principles are emerging in our personnel policy. Incidentally, former Minister of Agriculture Ihor Shvaika intended to remove a corrupt official from his post in 2014, but something went wrong at the last minute, and although Akhidzhanov's position faltered, he remained in office. Therefore, on the eve of the elections, the President, Prime Minister, and the relevant minister would do well to pay attention to corruption in the subsidy sector and to the main figure involved in this case, Bagrat Akhidzhanov. They would then be able to bring to a logical conclusion the decision that Ihor Shvaika failed to make.
But to be fair, the official who has been sitting on kickbacks and pocket change for years should not only be fired, but also held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.
Ukraine is changing right now. Not quickly, but it is changing. That's why we're not just hoping, but actually seeing this long-time corrupt official fired and brought to justice for his anti-national activities.
Oleg Boyko
Subscribe to our channels in Telegram, Facebook, Twitter, VC — Only new faces from the section CRYPT!