Head of the State Customs Service of Ukraine Maksym Nefyodov says the decision of the High Anti-Corruption Court that obliges the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) to initiate a pretrial investigation into possible customs violations by the official, which caused damage to the state exceeding UAH 40 million (US$1.63 million), black PR.
As was reported, a citizen whose name has not been disclosed lodged a claim with NABU on January 23 alleging that a group of individuals led by Nefyodov "had systematically taken bribes for delivering uncertified panels to Ukraine on the basis of a fictitious audit of supplier plants. As a result of this, the damage done to the state exceeded UAH 40 million."
"It's very sad that you are 'playing' along with this black PR… How do I know what's written in it [the plaintiff's claim]? The Economy Ministry doesn't inspect any factories. I couldn't do that either," he told UNIAN on February 20.
According to Nefyodov, this is a classic black PR scheme, where someone writes a false claim, which NABU detectives initially reject. Then the allegations of violations are entered in the state register of pre-trial investigations based on court rulings.
"I will not play along with such a poorly crafted fake … I have to work, rather than be distracted by attempts to get me into litigations," the customs chief said.
