ODESA, Ukraine - Yulia Marushevska, a 26-year-old ex-EuroMaidan activist and deputy governor of Odesa Oblast, has officially taken over as head of Odesa’s customs office, Olena Guseva, a spokeswoman for the office, told the Kyiv Post on Oct. 19.
Marushevska, an ally of Odesa Oblast Governor Mikheil Saakashvili, faces the challenge of cracking down on graft at Odesa’s notoriously corrupt seaport.
With Marushevska’s appointment, Saakashvili gets control over the customs office and hopes to carry out his plans to introduce more transparent and efficient customs clearance in the region.
Previously Saakashvili allies were also appointed as chiefs of the region’s police department and prosecutor’s office, giving his team an opportunity to reform Odesa Oblast’s law enforcement system.
Though her critics said that Marushevska has no experience in customs, her supporters argued that honesty was more important than experience for reforming the customs service.
What matters is that Marushevska is “young and unblemished” and has reformist experience, Sasha Borovik, an aide to Saakashvili and a mayoral candidate in the Oct. 25 local elections in Odesa, told the Kyiv Post.
“If we have a completely rotten (customs) organization, how can you hire someone if they have disgusting experience?” Borovik said. “Yulia is coming with a very strong team – those who turned Georgia’s customs agency into one of the best in the world.”
Giorgi Tskhakaya, who is currently an adviser to Saakashvili and was head of Georgia’s tax and customs agency in 2009-2010, and other Georgians will advise Marushevska, Borovik added.
Tskhakaya, who carried out a reform of Georgia’s customs service, told the Kyiv Post in August that he aimed to speed up customs procedures, remove law enforcement employees from the customs office and eliminate corruption by making customs clearance electronic and reducing human contact in Odesa Oblast.
He said the new system would be introduced in November.
While presenting Marushevska prior to her official appointment on Oct. 19, President Petro Poroshenko said on Oct. 16 that she had great organizational skills.
Marushevska became famous thanks to a viral English-language video urging the West to support the EuroMaidan Revolution in February 2014.
The video entitled “I am a Ukrainian” has been viewed 8.6 million times. It has also inspired a documentary by the same name from Hollywood director Ben Moses, who edited the viral video.
She joined Saakashvili’s team as an adviser in June and became a deputy governor of the region last month.
Marushevska’s appointment follows a long-running struggle between Saakashvili and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s Cabinet over customs reform.
Specifically, Borovik had previously criticized the Cabinet for blocking the reform by refusing to appoint a new head of the region’s customs office.
In September Saakashvili lambasted the Cabinet and the State Fiscal Service for an order that allows customs offices to set arbitrary prices for goods and thus manipulate their customs value.
He said that the order had paralyzed customs clearance and made it even more difficult for businesses to clear their goods. The rules are also a loophole for corruption, Saakashvili argued.
In August Saakashvili also accused the Cabinet of foiling a plan to give part of the customs revenues in Odesa Oblast to the regional government to finance the construction of a major highway.
The tug-of-war between Saakashvili and the Cabinet comes as Roman Nasirov, head of the State Fiscal Service, is accused of corruption and owning undeclared apartments abroad. He denies the accusations.The State Fiscal Service did not reply to a request for comment by phone or e-mail.
Kyiv Post staff writer Oleg Sukhov can be reached at [email protected].
