Page 8 - UKRRptOct18

2.2 Acting head of Ukraine's financial services resigns in political power play
The Ukrainian government has dismissed the acting head of the State Fiscal Service (SFS) Myroslav Prodan, which is responsible for collecting state revenue and taxes.
Prodan has submitted a request for his own dismissal, also declaring his intention to participate in a competition to appoint the body’s permanent head. His dismissal is reported to be related to a prosecutor general’s investigation into misappropriation of funds.
Prodan was appointed to the post in March 2017 following the suspension of the SFS's Roman Nasirov, who was indicted by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU).
Acting head of the State Fiscal Service (SFS) Myroslav Prodan
Ukrainian anti-corruption authorities allege that Nasirov provided restructuring of rent payments for gas production companies associated with fugitive Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksandr Onyshchenko.
Nasirov arrest was billed as the “first big fish” to be netted in the nascent anti-corruption drive and the first member of the government elite to be indicted by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), in became a test of Ukrainian justice system. It was a test the system has failed. He is accused of giving an order that cost the state budget UAH2bn (€70mn). In March, Nasirov was released from custody in Kyiv after his wife posted the UAH100mn (€3.5mn) bail.
Prodan’s dismissal is another failure for the system and likely has more to do with power politics than running the country or fighting corruption.
Zenon Zawada at Kyiv-based brokerage Concorde Capital believes that alleged corruption at a state body as lucrative as the SFS "comes as no surprise".
8 UKRAINE Country Report October 2018 www.intellinews.com