Last week, an event occurred in Volyn, the true significance of which has not yet been fully grasped by local residents and authorities. The notorious Oleksandr Shavlak, who until recently headed the Chernihiv region customs service, was appointed head of the regional customs office. So far, only one senior official in the regional state administration has been heard to say something like, "The last thing we need is this headache." But it accurately captures the mood Shavlak has evoked in his small homeland in recent years.
It would seem that his appointment was a routine reshuffle within the agency. However, the devil is in the details. And there are more than enough details in the Shavlak case.
Customs pen samples
Oleksandr Vyacheslavovich has been working in the customs system since his youth – for nearly twenty years, since 1998, he held various positions at the Chernihiv Customs Office. It was during this period that the Chernihiv region became one of the top three regions for smuggling volumes. This is quite remarkable, considering that the Chernihiv region has neither seaports nor borders with its wealthy European neighbors (unlike the country's western regions).
Along with the growth in the volume of contraband passing through Chernihiv checkpoints, Shavlak's official status also rose – by 2011, he had risen to the position of first deputy head of customs. One might, of course, assume that Shavlak valiantly fought criminals and corrupt officials under all governments, but… unlikely. The Shavlak family's rapid rise in wealth has become the talk of the town. True, Oleksandr Shavlak's most recent asset declaration, in keeping with Ukrainian bureaucratic tradition, portrays him as poor, owning only a 32-square-meter garage.
It was during this period that smuggling gradually shifted from the "barbaric" (like "hundreds of hours in a ton of underwear") to something quite difficult for law enforcement to detect and record. This involved understating the customs value of imported goods—only certain companies were allowed to import these goods through each customs office, and importers were forced to use their services. The Chernihiv region was practically a pioneer in such schemes—a fact the new customs authorities were forced to acknowledge in 2011.
Incidentally, according to Shavlak's former employees, it was precisely because of a personal conflict with his new management that he was forced to temporarily leave his job at customs in 2011. And his alleged reluctance to serve the Yanukovych regime (which Shavlak now harps on about) had nothing to do with it. After all, for almost two years before his dismissal, he had found common ground with the then-government.
Take away and divide, Chernigov style
From 2011 to 2014, Shavlak was one of the directors of the scandalous company "Chernihivblstroy." Despite the "Stroy" in its name, this firm wasn't engaged in construction at all, but rather... in confiscating city residents' apartments in already-built buildings. The newspaper "Zerkalo Nedeli" devoted an entire series of reports to how Chernihivblstroy owner Viktor Demshevsky, using bribes to evict ordinary people from their homes, citing illegal privatization. That's the construction business. Perhaps the pinnacle of Chernihivblstroy's cynicism was its attempt to sue proxies for land allocated by the city council to the families of Chernihiv soldiers killed in the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO). This story caused quite a stir in Chernihiv, and it was only under intense pressure from activists and veterans that this latest embezzlement was successfully countered.
Oleksandr Shavlak did not shy away from actively participating in these and similar schemes. However, ironically, after the Maidan, he returned to public service. In 2014, he became the head of the Department for the Prevention and Detection of Corruption in the Chernihiv Regional State Administration. And in 2015, he returned to his native customs hearth and finally became the head of the regional customs office – completing a career that had been inconveniently interrupted four years earlier.
Amber mines
Shavlak's return to the customs post was no accident. Events in the following months revealed that his interest was no longer simply overseeing smuggling flows, but rather participating in the most high-profile "embezzlement" of recent times – the illegal extraction and sale of amber.
The point is that it was through the Chernihiv customs checkpoint "Novie Yarilovichi" that amber shipments could freely enter Belarus, from where they were then shipped to customers in Europe. Freely—if the security of these shipments could be ensured by a high-ranking "protector." Which is precisely what our hero became.
It's worth noting that over the past two years, the volume of smuggled Ukrainian amber has gradually increased from tens of kilograms to tons. While the illegal mining is typically overseen by corrupt officials in local law enforcement, the shipment abroad is the responsibility of "regular" customs officials.
However, in February of this year, Shavlak's well-practiced scheme went awry. Belarusian customs inspectors discovered over 800 kg of amber in a vehicle undergoing a so-called "inspection" in Chernihiv! Clearly, there was no way to simply hush up the matter, so the State Fiscal Service launched an investigation. However, Alexander Shavlak didn't become its hero. He was not punished. His fate took a more interesting turn: by State Fiscal Service Order No. 811-o of March 14, Shavlak was appointed... head of customs for the Volyn region! For now, he's holding this position as "acting"—a position he must serve in until April 12. And what will happen next is daunting to imagine. Considering that the Volyn region not only possesses impressive deposits of unplundered amber, but also borders Poland, thereby making the ordeal of smugglers exporting it to Europe as easy as possible.
To counter this undesirable development, the editorial board has already sent a request to the central office of the State Fiscal Service (SFS) to clarify the activities of a person in the Volyn region who clearly should be subject to, at a minimum, lustration. And, at worst, become a target of law enforcement interest. While we await a response, we appeal to Volyn activists fighting illegal January harvesting: be especially vigilant! A large bird of prey has entered our region, and we must work together to counter its appetite. Otherwise, American gangster showdowns from the Prohibition era will seem like child's play compared to the methods of our amber mafia...
Oleg Boyko, Anticor
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