Saakashvili announces latest removal of corrupt official

The head of the Illichivsk port, Yuriy Kruk, has been placed on leave for his alleged role in corruption, Odesa Regional Administration Head Mikheil Saakashvili announced at a July 23 press conference. Several days earlier, the port signed an agreement on renting the first and second berths with an offshore company, removing it from state control and contributing to the budget, he said. The infrastructure ministry helped remove Kruk to hire a temporary replacement, he said. The ministry will perform a review of the port’s work and financial audit, the pravda.com.ua news site reported.

Zenon Zawada: Saakashvili’s battle against corruption keeps impressing. Every few weeks, he targets a new structure, whether public or private, and finds the legal levers to remove its head, which is the source of corruption in most structures. As we expected, Saakashvili is targeting the smaller players first, in a tactic of acquiring experience and building his arsenal as he moves towards bigger targets. Unlike the top officials in Kyiv, some of whom use the anti-corruption battle as a pretext to eliminate political opponents or build their own corrupt networks – we believe Saakashvili is motivated by the desire to renew his standing among Western leaders and solidify his reputation as among the most effective politicians in the post-Soviet sphere.

The big question is just how far Saakashvili will take his anti-corruption campaign. We continue to believe that he will refrain from targeting the big players, especially not having acquired the necessary political capital. Moreover, his political maneuvers have demonstrated that he is loyal to President Petro Poroshenko and is playing by the unwritten rules of his team. Therefore, Saakashvili won’t make any moves that will get the president in trouble with the key players of Odesa, a region where the president has built up quite a strong support base. Saakashvili also doesn’t see the need for overshadowing the president. In short, he has demonstrated himself to be a tactical, clever and effective political player in the wild Ukrainian steppe. So far.