The trade union of Ukrspyrt state enterprise has demanded that the results of a tender to select the director of the state enterprise, with Nina Harkava and Anatoliy Dalibozhyk reaching the final stage, should be scrapped.

Head of Ukrspyrt Trade Union Roman Smetaniuk said during a press conference held at Interfax-Ukraine that Harkava and Dalibozhyk are involved in nine criminal proceedings.

"Two people who reached the final stage of the tender have court rulings where they recognized their fault and amnesty was applied to them," he said.

"Both candidates are people against who criminal proceedings are underway, or they were punished for crimes in the spirit sector," Director of Storonybabske production facility of Ukrspyrt Yuriy Luchechko said.

Smetaniuk said that the tender was not transparent and that the employees of Ukrspyrt did not have a chance to study the candidates and their programs. He said that the tender commission should have included representatives of the trade union, while the commission consisted of representatives of international human resources and consulting companies who have no relation to the sector, along with officials from the Agricultural Policy and Food Ministry.

He said that he was not allowed to participate in the tender and he is challenging this in court.

"We won’t stop and we will insist on the cancelation of the tender. We will go until the end and announce a strike," Smetaniuk said, adding that workers plan to submit materials against Dalibozhyk and Harkava to lawmakers.

First Deputy Agricultural Policy and Food Minister Yaroslav Krasnopolsky, who headed the tender commission, said at the press conference that according to Interior Ministry information, the two candidates in question had no criminal offenses registered against them, adding that the commission assessed the candidates only according to the dossiers they submitted.