The European Union demands that Ukraine return the money allocated for the repair of customs, but which went to no one knows where – media
A major international scandal is flaring up in Ukraine over unfinished checkpoints on the western border, for which the European Union allocated money, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports with reference to the Kiev edition of Strana.
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A few years ago, Ukrainian customs received 10 million euros from the EU for the reconstruction of posts, but they have not yet been updated. Europe is now stopping funding for the customs program and demanding an account for the money spent.
The most scandalous was the international checkpoint “Ustilug - Zosin”. Ustilug in Volyn is the closest way to reach the western border from Kyiv; it was planned to open the updated border crossing point back in 2014, but the work was delayed.
At the end of 2012, Europe allocated 6 million euros for the repair and expansion of the post within the framework of cross-border cooperation “Ukraine-Poland-Belarus”.
“A large-scale reconstruction was planned, the first in 17 years. If now Ustilug is crossed by 2 thousand people, 700 cars and only 3 buses, then after the reconstruction there would be five lanes for entry and exit, Ustilug would be able to pass three times more people and cars, and the queues that grew after the introduction of visa-free travel would decrease. But none of this happened, although the deadline for reconstruction passed in December 2016. On the Polish side, everything was built a long time ago. And our customs spent half of the EU money, for which they only dug two pits along the checkpoint. That is, 3 million euros were actually stolen. What about reconstruction? On our side, even the potholes on the roads cannot be patched! They say that a multimillion-dollar tender for the construction of a checkpoint was won two years ago by a company close to the father-in-law of Nasirov, the former head of the State Fiscal Service. By the way, the son of the head of the Ustilug customs post got an expensive car, a BMW X5, which he boasted about on social networks, saying that daddy let him drive,” a former employee of the Volyn customs told reporters.
The head of the Ustilug-Zosin customs post, Alexander Onikiychuk, explains where the 3 million euros went: “Excavation work was carried out.”
“For the remaining three million euros, we had to build administrative buildings for border and customs services, new lanes, install an in-depth inspection box and a scanner. It’s unlikely that 3 million will be enough for this, especially considering that the same amount was “mastered” for the foundation pits,” continues the former customs officer.
According to the cross-border cooperation program, they also had to update the Rava-Russkaya checkpoint and buy equipment for other checkpoints (Krakovets, Shegini and Yagodin). The EU gave more than 2 million euros for this. And about 3 million euros more - for computers and the development of IT technologies at posts in the Lviv region and Volyn. “The work is going slowly, in fact nothing has been done yet,” said a source in the Mostis border detachment.
Let us note that the State Fiscal Service recently received a letter informing them of the termination of the program due to lack of progress. The document came into the possession of investigative journalist Alexander Dubinsky. In it, Pavel Slowikowski, chairman of the joint secretariat of the Poland-Belarus-Ukraine cross-border cooperation program, on behalf of the European Commission, demands a report on the money spent by the end of August.
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