The first deputy general director of the State Railway Administration (Ukrzaliznytsia), Maksym Blank, believes that the investigation of the case involving corruption in the railway system is being presented in the mass media as a battle between Ukrzaliznytsia and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), although this is fundamentally wrong. Blank wrote this on his personal Facebook page.
According to Blank, the SBU and Ukrzaliznytsia are cooperating fruitfully in the fight against corruption. For example, he said that SBU officers launched the operation that resulted in the arrest of the head of the Kiev Passazhyrsky train station at the instigation of Ukrzaliznytsia while Ukrzaliznytsia switched to competitive selection of agents for sale of electronic tickets at the instigation of the SBU, thus eliminating "the corrupt usurpation of this channel."
However, such cooperation is gradually being perceived wrongly. "For unclear reasons, all this was trashed for the sake of the recent high-profile statements. Sometimes, it seems to me that this a national ‘rake.’ Instead of uniting around common ideas, there are constant attempts to consolidate resources around members of the elite. As a result, common ideas are suffering and resources are being scattered. I would like to believe that all this will end together with the election campaign," Blank said.
In addition, he commented on the search of his home.
"Yes, there was money in in my apartment, and I presented it at the first request by SBU officers. No, the money was not hidden in the bathroom. I have a two-level safe system in my apartment. No, the money was less than one million. Yes, I provided documents showing that almost twice that amount of money was previously in my bank account," wrote Blank.
He stressed that he was not poor because he was an investment banker for 13 years and that it would have been surprising if he had not made a fortune during that time, when he concluded deals worth billions of dollars.
In addition, according to Blank, he has no property or savings abroad, but he owns several apartments, a land plot and a house in Kiev, a few cars, corporate rights, and securities, as reflected in his declaration for 2013.