Latest investment banker to lead State Fiscal Service

Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers appointed on May 5 Roman Nasirov as head of the State Fiscal Service, which organizes Ukraine’s tax administration and customs service. He last served as the head of the parliamentary tax and customs committee. Nasirov has three months to reform the service’s work, including closing tax loopholes, reducing contraband and trimming corruption overall, Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko told a press briefing the same day. New officials must be appointed, she said.

The State Fiscal Service awaits many changes, particularly in personnel, Nasirov told a press conference following his appointment. A new wave of tax reforms will be prepared by October 2015, he said, “so that the new budget can based on a new tax system.”

Nasirov arrives at the State Fiscal Service following a scandal that began in late February in which Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk launched an investigation into corruption at the State Fiscal Service, prompting the resignation of its head Ihor Bilous in the next month. After the investigation’s launch, State Fiscal Inspector Mykola Hordiyenko accused Yatsenyuk of interfering with his investigations of corrupt schemes still in place from the Yanukovych era.

Zenon Zawada: The scandal at the State Fiscal Service that led to the resignation of its former head is widely considered to have been an internal conflict. The corruption claims are being investigated by a working group appointed by Yatsenyuk, who succeeded in defusing the scandal and taking it off the front pages.

The 37-year-old Bilous was part of a wave of young reformers, with private sector experience, who were going to modernize the country. His brief tenure, which began in July, ended poorly, but he did take an active part in dismantling the Revenues and Fees Ministry created under Yanukovych and launching the State Fiscal Service in its place. He is credited with the oft-repeated reform of cutting taxes “from nine to 22” and helping to develop the single social contribution to cover pension costs. Yet the investigation launched by Yatsenyuk involved customs. 

The 36-year-old Nasirov joins Bilous as the latest “young reformer,” also bringing to the job investment banking experience, which includes serving as head of sales at Concorde Capital six years ago. Much of Ukraine’s future success in conducting reforms will depend on him and his decisions will be under close watch. His appointment was viewed mostly neutral or negatively by experts.