Competition at the customs caused a loud scandal

NABU employees win the final competition for the head of the State Customs Service Ruslan Damentsov and Orest Mandziy. They received some of the lowest scores in the practical tasks, but this did not prevent the committee from selecting them as winners.

Winners with low scores

Ruslan Damentsov and Orest Mandziy, both NABU employees, scored only 34 and 17 out of 100 possible points respectively in the practical tasks. These are the 12th and 13th places in the ranking of the finalists for the head of the State Customs Service.

Despite these results, the commission declared them the winners of the competition. None of the other finalists with higher scores were selected.

Conflict of interest and expert reaction

Earlier, the «independent commission» signed a memorandum with the NABU on integrity checks of candidates. This raised questions about a conflict of interest, as the commission has no legal grounds to check integrity, and NABU employees themselves participated in the competition.

A well-known lawyer Oleg Shram called the procedure discredited, as the only selection criterion was work in the NABU. Former SAPO prosecutor Stanislav Bronevytskyi said that such competitions do not select the strongest candidates, but rather the «agreeable» ones.

Previous scandals and statements by political experts

This is not the first scandal with the competition commission. Earlier it became known that its members had signed a memorandum of cooperation with NABU, although the Bureau's representatives had themselves applied for the post of head of customs.

Political expert Oleg Posternak noted that such actions make it possible to influence government agencies without direct interference, and foreigners, together with NABU employees, control entire government agencies.

Context.

This is not the first time that the competition for the head of the State Customs Service has been accompanied by scandals. Questions remain about the transparency and independence of the selection process. Experts and the public are calling for reform of the competition procedures.