S​aakashvili says Yatsenyuk’s Cabinet thwarts reforms, serves oligarchs

Saakashvili, the ex-Georgian President who became Odesa Oblast governor in May, has launched sweeping changes.

He has cracked down on corruption at the customs office and is planning to introduce faster registration procedures, cut government staff, increase their wages and replace them with new people.

Yet now all these changes, as well as reforms nationwide, are being scuttled by the Cabinet, he argues.

Yatsenyuk countered on Sept. 4 that Saakashvili’s accusations were unfounded and claimed that the Cabinet had approved the governor’s requests.

“We are all in one team here. I understand his emotions because he bears all the responsibility for Odesa Oblast,” Yatsenyuk said. “But it is inappropriate for an ex-president to bring unfounded charges against the government.”

Saakashvili told Channel 5 on Sept. 3 that the Cabinet was the main culprit for the country’s slow pace of reforms.

“Every day I talk about sabotage not by Russia, which is interested in sabotaging me, and not by local clans – they are widespread but they’re unlikely to thwart me,” he said. “We’re talking about sabotage by central government.”

He added that the Cabinet was “giving with one hand and taking away with the other.”

He said that he had “fallen victim to their talk and confidence tricks. I believe I’ve been deceived. Lies should have some limits. I hear lies every day.”

He also called for a thorough reshuffle of the Ukrainian government.

“Now the government is paralyzed,” Saakashvili said. “There must be a total reset of the Ukrainian government on all levels.”

A petition has been filed on the president’s site for appointing Saakashvili as prime minister, although he said he was not planning to become head of the government.

However, political analyst Taras Berzovets interpreted Saakashvili’s statements as the beginning of a bid to become prime minister. Saakashvili argued that corruption had increased since Yatsenyuk became prime minister in February 2014 and oligarchs’ influence was gigantic.

“Oligarchs’ interests control the Ukrainian government,” he said.

An example of the Cabinet’s sabotage of reforms is the situation at customs offices, Saakashvili argued. “The situation at the customs agency is worse than under Yura of Yanekieve,” he said, referring to Yury Ivanyushchenko, an ally of ex-President Viktor Yanukovych and alleged mafia boss who has been accused of running corrupt schemes at the customs agency. The former member of parliament has fled Ukraine.

The Cabinet has agreed to give part of the customs revenues in Odesa Oblast to the regional government to finance the construction of a major highway if such revenues rise due to increased transparency.

However, subsequently the Cabinet scuttled this plan by depriving the region of customs revenues from the energy sector and by setting lower tariffs in other regions, Saakashvili said.

He also referred to recent accusations made by Konstantyn Likarchuk, a deputy head of the State Fiscal Service.

Likarchuk said last month that Roman Nasirov, head of the service, was de facto restoring Yanukovych-era schemes at customs offices by appointing allies of the ex-president and his former customs agency head Ihor Kaletnik, including Hennady Romanenko.

Following the accusations, Likarchuk was stripped of his authority to oversee customs offices and given powers to run only a spa resort in Russian-annexed Crimea that Ukraine no longer controls.

Saakashvili backed up Likarchuk’s allegations by saying that customs offices are de facto controlled by lawmaker Vitaly Khomutynnik, an ex-Yanukovych ally.

Sasha Borovik, an advisor to the governor, told the Kyiv Post by phone that the Cabinet had also refused to approve Saakashvili’s candidates for the position of Odesa Oblast’s top customs official.

Another example of sabotage is the reinstatement of Denys Antoniuk as head of the State Aviation Service, Saakashvili said. He was suspended in June after the governor accused him of serving tycoon Ihor Kolomoisky’s interests.

However, Antonyuk was reinstated last month.

“I want to ask: whose interests does Yatsenyuk take into account? Kolomoisky’s or those of tens of millions of Ukrainian passengers?” Saakashvili said. “Yatsenyuk made a decision in Kolomoisky’s favor. And previously he made decisions in (oligarch Rinat) Akhmetov’s favor.”

But, following Saakashvili’s new criticism, Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Andriy Pyvovarsky said on Sept. 4 that Antonyuk had finally been fired.

Moreover, the Cabinet has refused to approve most of the district heads in Odesa Oblast chosen by Saakashvili’s team, he said, adding that only six of the 16 district heads recently nominated by the governor had been given a green light.

Saakashvili’s team has chosen as district heads many professionals who speak fluent English, including Western-educated ones, and don’t have a background in the current government.Yatsenyuk seemed to concede to Saakashvili’s demands on Sept. 4, saying that the Cabinet had authorized all 16 candidates.

Saakashvili also said that the central government had been dragging its feet on privatization and was thwarting a project to set up a facility to provide faster and more efficient registration services for businesses and individuals in Odesa.

Borovik said that the Cabinet had also failed to take into account the Saakashvili team’s proposals on reforming the civil service, the Security Service of Ukraine , the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Fiscal Service.

By Sept. 15, the team is planning to submit to the Verkhovna Rada the Odesa Reform Package, including a restructuring of the civil service and economic deregulation, Borovik said.

Kyiv Post staff writer Oleg Sukhov can be reached at [email protected]. Kyiv Post writer Veronika Melkozerova contributed to this story.