Danylo Oleksiyovych Menshikov
Official biography
Born on June 23, 1986. Head of Lviv Customs.
Education.
He graduated from V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University. There he studied at the Faculty of Economics, Department of Finance and Credit.
Career
He was first appointed as a manager at the age of 25 at a private enterprise in Kharkiv. His position was Head of the Financial Monitoring Service. In February 2018, Menshikov was appointed Deputy Head of the Department of Entrepreneurship Development and Regulatory Policy of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine.
The following year, Danylo Menshikov took up the position of Deputy Head of the Department for Monitoring and Analysis of Customs Value and Price Information at the Department of Customs Payments and Customs Value of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine, and later the State Customs Service of Ukraine. His goal was to build an effective team and develop new methods of analysis and control.
Already in 2021, he began his activities as the Head of the Targeting Department of the Coordination and Monitoring Customs of the State Customs Service. Finally, in August 2021, he became the head of Cherkasy Customs. Now Danylo Menshikov will be in charge in Lviv.
Family.
Former wife Anastasia Menshikova
Compromising evidence
On December 6, 2021, Danylo Menshikov took up his duties, having been sent from Cherkasy to Lviv to head one of the largest customs offices in Ukraine, albeit in the status of acting head.
This was reported by the Telegram channel of the State Customs Service of Ukraine, citing the Independent News Service:
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fter that, new scandals began to emerge here, which were ignored in Kyiv.
Truckers and owners of logistics companies were the first to appreciate the results of the Lviv customs, as queues at checkpoints began to be measured in days rather than hours. The roads near Shehyni, Krakovets and Rava-Ruska checkpoints turned into a continuous traffic jam in both directions. To strengthen the fight against smuggling and customs violations, Danylo Menshikov invited Yuriy Prykhodko to join his team.
Telegram channel of the Customs Service Yuriy Prikhodko:
It didn’t take long to see the effect of this strengthening. Through research and monitoring, it has been established: Lviv customs officers have stopped distinguishing new clothes from second-hand ones.
On December 17, 2021, at the Korchova-Krakovets checkpoint, customs officers tried to register a truckload of new clothes from China as used, which would have reduced the cost of customs clearance or avoided it altogether. Thanks to the military from the Operational Investigation Department of the State Border Guard Service, this was prevented.
Contraband clothing:
The heads of the Lviv Customs and the State Customs Service simply ignored this story.
Just before the New Year, Lviv customs officers again distinguished themselves, this time letting a shipment of cigarettes into Poland. More than 2000 packs of cigarettes were found by Polish law enforcement officers from the National Revenue Office.
Smuggling of cigarettes:
Despite the fact that this story was publicized in the neighboring country, the Ukrainian side is silent again: no dismissals or suspensions. Moreover, the head of the State Customs Service of Ukraine, Vyacheslav Demchenko, decided to extend the credit of trust to the acting head of Lviv Customs, Danylo Menshikov, by sending him to Lviv for another month. Menshikov continued his fight against smuggling. The struggle was so successful that even investigators from the State Bureau of Investigation and the prosecutor’s office had to intervene: On January 10, an inspector at the Rava-Ruska post uploaded a photo of an empty minibus to the customs clearance card, even though the vehicle was packed to the brim with goods. The damage caused to the state by this episode alone was estimated at UAH 121 thousand.
The inspector was detained:
But this is only one documented case, and we are unlikely to ever know how many such «empty» buses have entered Ukraine. Even the Committee on Finance, Taxation and Customs Policy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has realized that the issue of smuggling is completely out of control of the leadership of the State Customs Service and heads of regional customs. The Chairman of the Committee, Danylo Hetmantsev, declared his readiness to make tough personnel decisions as early as February:
It seems that Lviv has heeded the words of Danylo Hetmantsev and is celebrating as if it were the last time. Headlines on news sites like: «A drunken customs officer was detained in Lviv» have already become quite commonplace.
Marian Bedriy was detained by the police:
On January 25, while returning from a celebration at work, Marian Berdrii, Head of the Department for Combating Customs Offenses, drove a drunken car. He was stopped by the police and found out that his alcohol level was almost twice the legal limit. Marian Bedriy was never fired for this offense.
Serhiy Korchak’s “paratroopers” put pressure on Lviv businesses
On January 5, the acting head of the Galician customs office, Serhiy Korchaka, asked the head of the State Customs Service of Ukraine to send a paratroop of professionals to the Galician customs office “due to the official need to provide methodological assistance.” The appeal was accompanied by a list of preferred candidates:
Ilyashevych Yaroslav Volodymyrovych, head of the Mykolaiv-Morskoy customs post of the Black Sea Customs.
Dmytro Petrovych Nebrezh, Head of the Department for Administration of Customs Payments, Customs Value and Classification of Goods at the Black Sea Customs.
Maksym Zhdanovych, Chief State Inspector of the Department for Work with Price Information of the State Customs Service.
It is known that Danylo Menshikov, Head of the Department of Monitoring and Analysis of Customs Value, Department of Customs Value and Price Information of the State Customs Service, was sent to Lviv to “strengthen” the work of the Galician Customs.
In July 2022, the SBU uncovered another corruption scheme at Lviv Customs:
Danylo Menshikov and Maksym Zhdanovych, who are supposed to provide “methodological assistance,” are actually engaged in anything but methodological work. They move freely through the customs control zones, participate in vehicle inspections, but such information is not reflected anywhere in official acts. And these employees cannot be driven away from the customs posts of Shehyni, Rava-Ruska, Yavoriv and Lviv-Poshtovyi with a stick. With their appearance, real harassment of legally working businessmen began.
Additional inspections, artificially prolonging their duration, blocking declarations, and holding cargo, which ultimately causes huge losses to businesses that are used to clearing their goods rather than giving them “in the paw”. Vegetables, fruits, second-hand goods, and household goods are now under special scrutiny by these “watchers.” All of this leads to the fact that “white” businesses incur additional costs and are forced to pay for downtime, pay for loading and unloading. Such “nightmares” continue until businessmen get on the “flows” that Korchak’s “landing force of professionals” “covers”. Businessmen who do not want to play by the new rules choose other regions to clear their goods. For example, Zakarpattia, where the situation is much more adequate and transparent.
Danylo Menshikov — when laws are not written for the acting head of Lviv customs
Acting Head of Lviv Customs Danylo Menshikov was once again spotted driving a new, undeclared Audi A6 made in 2021. This was reported in the Facebook community “Corrupt Galician Customs,” according to Lvivski Novyny.
The cost of the luxury car starts at UAH 2 million.
This is not the first time that Menshikov and his companion Khrystyna Holubytska have been spotted in the parking lot of the GRAND HOTEL. It should be noted that the cost of a hotel room per night is about 10 thousand hryvnias.
“During working hours, he does anything but his direct job duties, and why go to work if he can manage the smuggling pass remotely from his hotel, because everything is solved,” the statement concluded.
Danylo Menshikov worked as the head of the national electronic transit system implementation department at the Coordination and Monitoring Customs of the State Customs Service. Previously, he served as Head of the Entrepreneurship Development Department at the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade. In August 2021, he became the head of Cherkasy Customs, where he worked until recently.
In addition to his work at the Ministry of Economy and Customs, Danylo Menshikov tried to build a political career. He was an assistant to MP Anton Gerashchenko. In the 2015 local elections, he ran for the Kharkiv Regional Council from the Volunteer Party of Ukraine. He was a member of the Our Home is Odesa party.
Almost every week, under the leadership of 32-year-old «specialist» Menshikov, new scandals began to emerge at the customs. On New Year’s Eve, Lviv customs officers «did not notice» a large batch of smuggled cigarettes. They were hidden in the roof and doors of a car leaving Ukraine. Lvivski Novyny journalists also received an exclusive video showing Ivan Lopotych, a regular dog handler at Lviv Customs, being stopped by police while driving a Skoda Superb in Lviv, on Sakharov Street. Instead of undergoing a sobriety test, the customs officer decided to simply run away from the police, but fell into the bushes and was detained.
Also, the Telegram channel «Customs of Ukraine» published a statement written by his ex-wife Anastasia Menshikova on March 3, 2020, against the head of Lviv Customs, Danylo Menshikov, stating that he had run away with his mistress and taken all the money with him.
Statement by Anastasia Menshikova:
A brief description of Menshikov and his mistress:
And recently, the head of the department for combating customs offenses, Marian Bedrii, got behind the wheel of a car while being drunk. He was stopped by the police and found out that his alcohol level was almost twice the legal limit. The Lviv Customs did not even suspend their “cadre” from duty.
Summary
Despite the fact that the country is at war, Danylo Menshikov uses Lviv Customs as a tool to enrich his own wallet. Covering up smuggling, bribes, drug use, luxury cars — all part of the “beautiful” life of a simple customs chief.