The Ministry of Infrastructure has appointed Latvian citizen Raivis Veckagans as the acting head of the Ukrainian Port Authority. Minister of Infrastructure Volodymyr Omelian presented Veckagans to employees of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority in Odesa on Thursday, 12 January.
According to the Ministry of Infrastructure, the new head of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority has complete freedom to take action to reform the Ukrainian Port Authority and combat corruption schemes."
According to Omelian, the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority should be reformed and transformed into a transparent and efficient company.
"We have begun its reform, and there is already some resistance. This is normal," the minister said. He added that the acting state secretary for the Ministry of Infrastructure signed the order on the appointment of Veckagans, as required by law. Andrii Haluschak, who won the relevant competition, will assume this post on 13 January, but the Ministry of Infrastructure does not plan to cooperate with him.
As reported, the Prymorskyi District Court of Odesa suspended on 11 January the Ministry of Infrastructure’s 6 January order that appointed Serhii Hronskyi as the acting head of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority. The relevant lawsuit was filed by Yurii Nakonechnyi, who was the acting head of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority until then. The ministry has five days to appeal against the court’s judgment.
Earlier, the Ministry of Infrastructure announced that it appointed Hronskyi as the acting head of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority for only a few days because Veckagans would become the head of the company this week. Thus, the ministry has implemented its plan, but it is unclear whether there will be an attempt to block the ministry’s decision through the courts.
