The Ukrainian Interior Minister accepted the resignation of Anatoliy Sirenko, who headed Ukraine's state traffic police subordinate to the Interior Ministry of Ukraine.
This was announced by Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov at a visiting meeting of the government at Kyiv's National Academy of Internal Affairs on Saturday.
"General Sirenko handed in his resignation. Knowing that it's him who is fully responsible for the situation around the traffic police, I signed his letter of resignation. Colonel Oleksandr Yershov was appointed acting head of Ukraine's traffic police," Avakov said.
Avakov also mentioned the corruption schemes that have recently been revealed in the traffic police.
The minister also expressed hope state vehicle registration and driver licensing centers will be eliminated during the reform of law enforcement agencies. "I hope these centers will be closed by the end of this year," he added.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the Interior Ministry on April 2 conducted a number of searches and seizures as part of the elimination of criminal schemes revealed at the Kyiv traffic police department.
The criminals used such schemes to obtain illegal cash during car registration at local state vehicle registration and driver licensing centers, Interior Minister Avakov wrote on his Facebook page.
Avakov informed about the detention of Lieutenant Colonel Mykola Zhebel, who headed the vehicle registration and driver licensing department of Kyiv traffic police subordinate to the Interior Ministry.
At the same time, Kyiv traffic police chief, Colonel Mykola Makarenko, who is suspected of organizing a criminal gang, fled in the direction of Belarus. He is wanted by the police for questioning.
Avakov claims that work is also being done with some other members of the gang – both civilians and police officers.
Two abovementioned traffic police officers are suspected of racketeering and receiving monthly payments from employees of centers that provide services related to the use of motor vehicles. The centers were subordinate to the Interior Ministry's Kyiv-based main department.
In addition, the minister said that the criminal gang had monopolized the sale of the state vehicle registration and driver licensing center's invoice and certificate blanks. "In particular, Zhebel would illegally earn over UAH 600,000 every month via Innavto Ltd., he had connections with. He made UAH 720 per single blank," the minister wrote.
According to Avakov, proof of the criminal corruption schemes used by Makarenko and Zhebel was found during searches at Innavto: documents with schemes how to get money from subordinates and cash siphoned through the entire criminal chain.
