Government dismisses Antoniuk as head of Aviation Service

 "The government recently announced the investigation into the operations of the head of the State Aviation Service. The Infrastructure Ministry and the government are to stick to the procedure, which foresees how the investigation is carried out and who is conducting it. The investigation has been completed," he said. Pyvovarsky said that on Friday it was decided to disclose the results of the investigation and they will be posted on the Infrastructure Ministry's website. "Under the results of the investigation and under my proposal, today the Cabinet of Ministers decided to dismiss Antoniuk from the post of head of the State Aviation Service," the minister said. Pyvovarsky added that the new head of the service will be selected at an open tender. Antoniuk was appointed as head of the State Aviation Service on March 12, 2014. From 1997 to 2014, he worked at Ukrainian International Airlines (UIA), the largest airline in Ukraine. As reported, the government on July 2 suspended Antoniuk from his post for the duration of an internal investigation. On June 26 Head of Odesa Regional State Administration Mikheil Saakashvili attended a meeting of the aviation service commission on flight assignments. He demanded that the State Aviation Service should distribute assignments for flights on a competitive basis. He accused the head of the service of being biased during the distribution of assignments. Subsequently, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that Antoniuk would be suspended for the duration of the investigation. On July 7 Antoniuk appealed to the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine asking it to verify the legality of his suspension and decide on whether the actions of Saakashvili constituted a criminal offense. He also filed a lawsuit demanding compensation for the damage to his reputation. Antoniuk returned to his office on August 31, 2015.