PoR deputies as cynical as ever [updated]

The cynicism of PoR parliamentary deputies is breathtaking.

After many weeks of struggle by the opposition, kicking and screaming PoR deputies finally agreed to stop the 20 year-old anti-constitutional practice of multiple voting in the parliamentary plenum chamber.

But as soon as they get back what do they do? They carry on doing it. In one of many instances recorded, yesterday Tetyana Bakhtyeyeva voted for former minister for infrastructure, the minister responsible for Euro 2012, thuggish Boris Kolesnikov.

True to form, when opposition MPs assistants challenged Kolesnikov about this he tried to assault one of them, grabbing one of them by his jacket lapels.  

Other Regionals whose cards "voted" without their holders being present included Serhiy Kivalov, and Pavlo Lebedev.

The former is head of the parliamentary committee on judiciary matters, no less. He also holds a whole host a high positions connected with legal affairs.

The latter is the current minister of defence.

Yulia Tymoshenko's legal councillor, Serhiy Vlasenko was unceremoniously kicked out of parliament a few days ago for allegedly having one a** on two chairs, which even provoked an extraordinary debate in the European Parliament. This despite Vlasenko's claims that he had informed appropriate authorities he no longer worked in the legal profession.

When Lebedev "votes" in parliament and at the same time unconstitutionally holds a position in the cabinet of ministers this does not seem to count. Selective use of justice or what?

In Ukraine the law exists only  to crush the ruling party's enemies.

I imagine most European leaders when they watch such antics are thinking: "How can we disentangle ourselves from these habitual petty thieves, cheapskate swindlers and liars with minimum loss of face?

p.s. Forbes.ua run the first part of an interesting interview with Yuriy Didukh - a business partner of Yevhen Shcherban's, who was of course, murdered at Donetsk airport in November 1996. Yulia Tymoshenko will probably be tried for this crime at some point in the future.

Dedukh [or Didukh] has featured in F.N. in previous blogs

In the Forbes interview Dedukh claims the swath of killings of Donetsk businessmen commenced just after Leonid Kuchma became president in 1994. He claims it was president Kuchma [and Pavlo Lazarenko] and special forces under his control who were responsible for them, and it was they who organized the murder of his business partner Yevhen Shcherban.

Akhat Bragin's murder was part of this 'zachystka'.

Maybe more on this later from your blogger when another portion of the interview is published.....

No explanation so far for the attempt on Pavlo Lazarenko's life shortly after he became PM though...or why Kuchma did not finish off the job in Donetsk but rather promoted Yanukovych?...And there certainly were many high-profile killing before 1994 too of course.

The relationship between organised crime and law enforcement agencies was considered to be symbiotic in the early and mid nineties in the Donbas region, so special forces may well have been involved in many of the high profile killings. Virtually no perpetrators were ever caught or charged.

Before entering politics Kuchma had been design engineer at the high-tech Yuzhmash, building space rockets. He later held the position of the company's general director - hardly a criminal background. Contrast this with the murky past and 'black holes' in the biographies of the Shcherban's, Bragin's and Yanukovych's of this world.

And, ultimately. who eventually benefited from these killings when everything settled down?

"The Truth is a precious thing and must be protected by a bodyguard of lies" -- Sir Winston Churchill

p.p.s. Regionals are still cheating in parliament - playing musical chairs - voting for their colleagues. If they were children they would have their wrists slapped - as grown ups the deserve a hefty kick up the a**. What a disgrace...