Finance Ministry preparing new Customs Code that will grant customs law enforcement functions – Marchenko
The Ministry of Finance of Ukraine is working on a new version of the Customs Code, which will provide for the assignment of law enforcement functions to customs authorities.
Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko announced this when speaking at a meeting of the parliamentary temporary investigative commission.
"We consistently advocate for customs to exercise law enforcement functions, which is in line with European practice. We are currently drafting a new Customs Code that will provide for the ability of customs [GTS] to investigate crimes that occur directly within its area of responsibility," the minister noted during a meeting of the Temporary Investigative Committee in Kyiv on Wednesday.
In response to a question from Oleksiy Honcharenko, Marchenko did not deny the possibility of informal influence on the State Customs Service's operations and expressed hope that such a step would help minimize the informal, and sometimes corrupt, influence of other law enforcement agencies on customs operations. According to the minister, the ability of third-party entities to exercise "tacit control" creates the risk of interference in management processes.
"It's difficult for me to say what's happening at customs right now, because new management has been appointed," the minister added.
