Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers appoints new head of State Communications Service to replace disgraced predecessor

Yurii Myronenko has been appointed as the new head of Ukraine’s State Special Communications Service, replacing Yurii Shchyhol, who was dismissed in November on suspicion of having misappropriated over UAH 62 million (about US$1.7 million) of public money.

Source: Taras Melnychuk, government representative in the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) of Ukraine

Details: The decision was made on 1 December at a meeting of the Ukrainian government.

Quote: "Yurii Myronenko has been appointed as head of the State Special Communications Service of Ukraine."

Background: On 20 November, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office reported that it had been established that the leadership of the State Special Communications and Information Protection Service of Ukraine misappropriated over UAH 62 million (about US$1.7 million) of public money. They used a "pre-war" scheme to purchase software for over UAH 285 million (about US$7.8 million). A bogus company was involved in the procurement, allowing a 20% kickback to be taken from the procurement amount.

Yurii Shchyhol, the former head of the Special Communications Service suspected of misappropriating over UAH 62 million of public money during software procurement, was released from custody on 24 November, a day after his pre-trial restriction was chosen.

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