A small case of re-nationalisation – Odessa Port

BY NIKOLAI HOLMOV 

Following along rather nicely from yesterday’s entry in which the State Fiscal Service was rightly castigated for being endemically corrupt and predatory, today saw the SBU raid Odessa Port and seize State property.

Why would the SBU, a State agency, enter Odessa Port and seize State assets?  Can the State seize State assets, or is that simply a statement of nonsense?

The reason is simple.  The State Fiscal Service, has been illegally leasing State equipment to private enterprises.

To be exact, it has been leasing loading and unloading equipment to private enterprises.  This in turn obviously deprives the State of the revenue associated with loading and unloading, whilst transferring it to certain “private enterprises” that clearly won’t be paying tax for using State assets it should not control or use.

Quite where the “lease” revenue for control/use of these State assets has gone remains to be seen – undoubtedly not to the State, as their should be no “lease” from where revenue would come.

Somebody within the State Fiscal Service (and their associates) has just lost a very nice illicit earner.

Undoubtedly Vasyl Hrytsak who ordered the operation will be pleased with the result.  Equally happy will be Governor Saakashvili, who will see it as added justification for his targeting of the ports and the associated widespread and major corruption within.

As stated yesterday – “do not be surprised when 1st November arrives and a new customs system operates at Odessa Port, to see the State Fiscal Service and PGO offices on the port side close, leaving only newly minted customs officials on site.”

This can reasonably be expected to be one of the few cases of “re-nationalisation” of State assets under the current government – quite rightly too.

As something of a bonus, the SBU whilst there stopped a truck leaving the port, the contents of which had “missed” customs entirely with a value of UAH 10,000,000 ($450,000) – Not a good week for the State Fiscal Service, with more bad weeks ahead undoubtedly.

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