Thursday, March 21, 2013
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...
Monday, March 18, 2013
Cui bono?
The influential 'Frankfurter Allgemeine' have run a story - 'Yulia Tymoshenko - the dark side of power' on the background to the Shcherban murder trial.
Their [google-translated] conclusion which I've tidied up:
"Political" dividend went to Yanukovych
In contrast, after Schtscherban's death the biggest part of his business, "went to representatives of the current government."
So Rinat Akhmetov, the head of the football club Shakhtar Donetsk, and now the richest man by far in Ukraine could only make his ascent in Donbas after the end of Schtscherban.
His former political agent, the current President Yanukovych, could only in 1997 become governor [of Donbas], after Schtscherban was no longer alive. Thus, according to Tymoshenko's defender, the "economic dividend" of the bloody deed, after 1996, went to Akhmetov and the "political dividend" went to Yanukovych.
Later, when this duo had consolidated power in the Donbas, several accomplices to the murder died under unclear circumstances - one of them in a prison in Donetsk.
Serhiy Vlasenko [Tymoshenko's lawyer] points out that at that time not only was Yanukovych governor there, but the current chief prosecutor in the case, the prosecutor general, Viktor Pschonka and his deputy Renat Kuzmin had key positions in Donetsk judiciary.
p.s. Even president Yanukovych's top legal advisor on judicial reform, Andriy Portnov, perhaps out of sheer embarrassment, says the evidence presented so far in pre-trial hearings, all of which is based on hearsay from the mouths of the long-departed, is worthless.
The case is turning out to be a big 'own goal' [maybe not an inappropriate metaphor] for Yanukovych, his cronies, and the entire Ukrainian system of law enforcement. And this is before the European Court of Human Rights pass their judgement on the previous trials of Tymoshenko and Lutsenko...
p.p.s. Nice photo taken, I believe, during the opening of the Shakhtar Donetsk stadium - from an article entitled: 'Innocent victim of the regime..'
Their [google-translated] conclusion which I've tidied up:
"Political" dividend went to Yanukovych
In contrast, after Schtscherban's death the biggest part of his business, "went to representatives of the current government."
So Rinat Akhmetov, the head of the football club Shakhtar Donetsk, and now the richest man by far in Ukraine could only make his ascent in Donbas after the end of Schtscherban.
His former political agent, the current President Yanukovych, could only in 1997 become governor [of Donbas], after Schtscherban was no longer alive. Thus, according to Tymoshenko's defender, the "economic dividend" of the bloody deed, after 1996, went to Akhmetov and the "political dividend" went to Yanukovych.
Later, when this duo had consolidated power in the Donbas, several accomplices to the murder died under unclear circumstances - one of them in a prison in Donetsk.
Serhiy Vlasenko [Tymoshenko's lawyer] points out that at that time not only was Yanukovych governor there, but the current chief prosecutor in the case, the prosecutor general, Viktor Pschonka and his deputy Renat Kuzmin had key positions in Donetsk judiciary.
p.s. Even president Yanukovych's top legal advisor on judicial reform, Andriy Portnov, perhaps out of sheer embarrassment, says the evidence presented so far in pre-trial hearings, all of which is based on hearsay from the mouths of the long-departed, is worthless.
The case is turning out to be a big 'own goal' [maybe not an inappropriate metaphor] for Yanukovych, his cronies, and the entire Ukrainian system of law enforcement. And this is before the European Court of Human Rights pass their judgement on the previous trials of Tymoshenko and Lutsenko...
p.p.s. Nice photo taken, I believe, during the opening of the Shakhtar Donetsk stadium - from an article entitled: 'Innocent victim of the regime..'
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Reforms? What reforms?
Excellent sobering analysis from The Centre for Eastern Studies in Warsaw:
"From stabilisation to stagnation. Viktor Yanukovych's reforms"
p.s. like most commentators they fail to factor in the possibility that presidential elections in 2015 may be scrubbed.
p.p.s. Ukraine's oligarchs are going to 'take a haircut' in Cyprus?
"From stabilisation to stagnation. Viktor Yanukovych's reforms"
p.s. like most commentators they fail to factor in the possibility that presidential elections in 2015 may be scrubbed.
p.p.s. Ukraine's oligarchs are going to 'take a haircut' in Cyprus?
Friday, March 15, 2013
Who is living in cloud cuckoo land?
An emergency debate on Ukraine took place in the European Parliament in Strasburg late on Wednesday night.
The debate had been directly prompted by the recent termination by Ukraine's Supreme Administrative Court of the mandates of two Verkhovna Rada deputies, including one belonging to Yulia Tymoshenko's defence councillor, Serhiy Vlasenko.
'Kommersant.ua" reports: "All the participants in the debate spoke of a sharp deterioration in the state of democracy in Ukraine, despite agreements reached at the Ukraine-EU summit." [my bold lettering]
Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Fule, expressing regret at recent events in Kyiv, including the blocking of opposition parliament, said, on the requirements put forward by Brussels: "As long as questions regarding Yulia Tymoshenko and Yuriy Lutsenko are not properly resolved, we can't really talk about the implementation by Ukraine of the readiness criteria for signing the Association Agreement."
In a nutshell, the Ukrainian leadership got their a**es kicked for their highly provocative and unjust action against Vlasenko.
--------------------------
Meanwhile, Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced:
"The debate on the situation in Ukraine in the European Parliament held in Strasbourg on 13 March, was the third in the past 10 months..it reveals the high degree of attention this influential European institution dedicates to our state.
Such constant attention by MPs of the European Union is a logical manifestation of the support by the European Parliament for the aspirations of the Ukrainian people. Accordingly, there are high expectations of the European Parliament by Ukraine.
A key conclusion of the debate was the clear testimony of the willingness of the European Parliament to sign, with Ukraine, the Association Agreement during the Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius in November this year.
We greet the realisation of the European Parliament of the importance and relevance of this Agreement to the interests of both Ukraine and the European Union. .."
[Your humble blogger wonders if when Yanukovych and his bozo advisers decided to embark on this harebrained plan to deprive Vlasenko of his parliamentary mandate they ever dreamt it would lead to an emergency debate in the European Parliament....and yet another blunder for hapless foreign minister Kozhara]
p.s. E.P.'s official news site declares :
If Ukraine is still serious about signing an ambitious association and trade deal with the EU by November, then disturbing news such as the recent removal of two opposition MPs' mandates, is not the way forward, said MEPs in Wednesday's debate with Commissioner Štefan Füle, standing for the EU foreign policy chief.
Recent developments pointed to "old Soviet mechanisms being set in motion" and also a lack of commitment to solving systemic problems of democracy and justice, said MEPs. At the same time, they also criticised the unconstructive response of the opposition, which has blocked the work of the Ukrainian Parliament.
MEPs reiterated the clear requirements set by the EU Foreign Affairs Council, which Ukraine was expected to meet by May, as a prerequisite for signing the Association Agreement and Deep and Comprehensive Trade agreement with the EU.
It will not be possible to sign these deals, which would be the most advanced ones that the EU has ever negotiated with a third country, unless the Tymoshenko case and other "selective justice" issues are addressed in coming months, they said. [my bold lettering]
More optimistically, MEPs confirmed that they had heard the messages sent by the Ukrainian Parliament's resolution on EU integration, which was broadly supported by civil society.
MEPs cited the pro-European aspirations of Ukraine's young people and said that the EU should keep its door open to Ukraine, regardless of its President and government.
Some also said that the EU needs to be more patient and suggested that the deals to be signed could actually serve as tools to "fix the country".
Thursday, March 14, 2013
More bullsh*t from Yanukovych
Moron Yanukovych claims that: "In no country in Europe, in no country in the world can you do this [i.e. be a parliamentary representative and simultaneously hold another job]
He made this idiotic statement today when unconvincingly trying to justify the disgraceful politically motivated treatment meted out to Yulia Tymoshenko's legal advisor, Serhiy Vlasenko, who was absurdly deprived of his seat in the Verhovna Rada by a law court ruling.
In Yanukovych's opinion, Vlasenko was responsible for the worsening of EU-Ukraine relations.
What Yanukovych said was complete bullshit.
For his information:
"Almost 20% of [British] MPs are earning supplementary incomes through second jobs, with some earning hundreds of thousands of pounds through external positions. The 'Sun on Sunday' reports that Parliament's register of interest shows 119 MPs have jobs outside of Parliament, and that Geoffrey Cox – Conservative MP for Torridge and West Devon – has earned £560,000 since through his work as a barrister since December.
Only 315 out of 650 MPs registered no external income" [Source]
And
"Dozens of MPs are boosting their taxpayer-funded salaries by tens of thousands of pounds by taking second jobs...new analysis found that as well as drawing their MPs salary of £65,738, many are juggling their political work with jobs in careers such as law, consulting and business and making up to 13 times their annual pay." [Source]
If an MP's second job does not detract from his or her prime duty as an MP there is no problem, provided that the second job bears no relation to the MP's political influence on political decision-making.
All British MPs have to declare their outside financial interests in official registers of interests that are available for public scrutiny, e.g. by journalists.
In Great Britain, Vlasenko's behaviour would be deemed perfectly acceptable - especially as he claims he is receiving no payment for his services as Tymoshenko's legal defender.
He made this idiotic statement today when unconvincingly trying to justify the disgraceful politically motivated treatment meted out to Yulia Tymoshenko's legal advisor, Serhiy Vlasenko, who was absurdly deprived of his seat in the Verhovna Rada by a law court ruling.
In Yanukovych's opinion, Vlasenko was responsible for the worsening of EU-Ukraine relations.
What Yanukovych said was complete bullshit.
For his information:
"Almost 20% of [British] MPs are earning supplementary incomes through second jobs, with some earning hundreds of thousands of pounds through external positions. The 'Sun on Sunday' reports that Parliament's register of interest shows 119 MPs have jobs outside of Parliament, and that Geoffrey Cox – Conservative MP for Torridge and West Devon – has earned £560,000 since through his work as a barrister since December.
Only 315 out of 650 MPs registered no external income" [Source]
And
"Dozens of MPs are boosting their taxpayer-funded salaries by tens of thousands of pounds by taking second jobs...new analysis found that as well as drawing their MPs salary of £65,738, many are juggling their political work with jobs in careers such as law, consulting and business and making up to 13 times their annual pay." [Source]
All British MPs have to declare their outside financial interests in official registers of interests that are available for public scrutiny, e.g. by journalists.
In Great Britain, Vlasenko's behaviour would be deemed perfectly acceptable - especially as he claims he is receiving no payment for his services as Tymoshenko's legal defender.
Saturday, March 09, 2013
Donetski grabbed Shcherban's assets just a fast as they could
In my previous blog quoting information provided by Tetyana Chornovol, I wrote how Volodymyr Shcherban and Yevhen Shcherban had been close business associates. But a couple of months or so before Yevhen's assassination in November 1996, they fell out because Yevhen had switched his support in the upcoming presidential elections from Volodymyr... to Yevhen Marchuk.
Two days after Yevhen Shcherban and his wife's assassination at Donetsk airport, Voldymyr Shcherban's son quite disgracefully withdrew over $2 million from a US business account of a company run by Yevhen's wife Nadia Nikitin - money to which the Shcherban's two orphaned boys may well have had good claim to.
This callous action was an indicator of what was to come.
Eventually the two boys were taken under the wing of another business partner of the late Shcherban's, one Yuriy Dedukh [or Didukh].
Meanwhile the vast portion of their late father's assets, [who was probably the richest man in Ukraine at that time], were being divided up with unseemly haste between his so-called friends and partners in Donbas with little thought of making sure the late Yevhen's inheritors received their rightful share.
Dedukh's name had earlier been linked by law enforcement agencies with the activites of and Estonian firm 'Kolser' through which Yevhen Shcherban laundered money.
Dedukh allegedly had close ties with the first founder of "Shcherban's Aton", Igor Markulov and with a US citizen Paul Tetum who helped Markulov and Shcherban to secure a $50 million loan guaranteed by the Ukrainian government for "Aton". Tatum was with Shcherban in Moscow for pop singer Yosyp Kobzon's birthday party, where they had a very agreeable meeting. Just after this both were shot dead - Shcherban was killed in the Donetsk airport, and Tatum in Moscow - both on the same day.
Dedukh and Yevhen Shcherban's son, Yevhen Jr. eventually came back to Donetsk, probably to salvage what they could of the remains of the late Yevhen Shcherban's assests; but on 22nd September 1997 the vehicle in which they were travelling was shot up, and a bodyguard killed.
A highly placed police general announced in a newspaper article: "Had Dedukh not appeared there would not have been even one similar shooting in the oblast. You judge, in 1994 there were over 20 such shootings; this year, just three. More such ordered hits will not take place this year: Dedukh has gone from Donbas." What starker warning could there be: Don't come back, or else....
The police general was correct in one matter. By this time the cycle of killings that wreaked havoc in the region through the middle of the decade had ended. The governor was now Viktor Yanukovych, and Rinat Akhmetov was undisputed 'king of Donbas'. Lazarenko was in political opposition and Tymoshenko in parliament developing a political career.
In a 'Dzerkalo Tyzhnya interview' days after the assassination attempt on Dedukh and Yevhen Jr. the latter was asked: Who of the current politicians in the Donetsk oblast, ex-governor Volodymyr Shcherban, mayor of Donetsk [current VR speaker Volodymyr Rybak] or today's governor [Yanukovych] supported you in those days [following the death of your father]?
He replies: "Nobody..Basically it was [just] dad's business friends."
The logical conclusion is: those who carved up Yevhen Shcherban's assets did so ruthlessly, greedily and just as fast as they could, and to hell with his remaining family.
In the same interview Yevhen Jr. was asked: 'There is an opinion that your father prevented the penetration of structures from Dnipropetrovsk into the Donetsk territory. Could you confirm this?"
He replies: "I don't think that there was any obstacle to structures from Dnipropetrovsk. On the contrary, it was a case of uniting efforts.."
He confirmed the view that by the time of his death, Yevhen Shcherban and Lazarenko and Tymoshenko had a good working relationship. Certainly no motive for killing his father Yevhen...
p.s. A final thought. Who would attempt a spectacular assassination attempt inside a heavily guarded, high security environment, such as an airport?
The story above does in no way prove 'Donetski' were responsible for Yevhen Shcherban's killing - but it gives an insight into the rapacious and lawless business culture that existed, particularly in that region. It seems that it was they who benefited most from the 'carve-up' of Shcherban's vast wealth...
'Donetski', the same individuals, now dominate contemporary Ukrainian politics, law enforcement agencies and judiciary...
The current Shcherban murder trial is a banal attempt to cleanse the past and at the same time destroy president Yanukovych's deadliest foe.
Two days after Yevhen Shcherban and his wife's assassination at Donetsk airport, Voldymyr Shcherban's son quite disgracefully withdrew over $2 million from a US business account of a company run by Yevhen's wife Nadia Nikitin - money to which the Shcherban's two orphaned boys may well have had good claim to.
This callous action was an indicator of what was to come.
Eventually the two boys were taken under the wing of another business partner of the late Shcherban's, one Yuriy Dedukh [or Didukh].
Meanwhile the vast portion of their late father's assets, [who was probably the richest man in Ukraine at that time], were being divided up with unseemly haste between his so-called friends and partners in Donbas with little thought of making sure the late Yevhen's inheritors received their rightful share.
Dedukh's name had earlier been linked by law enforcement agencies with the activites of and Estonian firm 'Kolser' through which Yevhen Shcherban laundered money.
Dedukh allegedly had close ties with the first founder of "Shcherban's Aton", Igor Markulov and with a US citizen Paul Tetum who helped Markulov and Shcherban to secure a $50 million loan guaranteed by the Ukrainian government for "Aton". Tatum was with Shcherban in Moscow for pop singer Yosyp Kobzon's birthday party, where they had a very agreeable meeting. Just after this both were shot dead - Shcherban was killed in the Donetsk airport, and Tatum in Moscow - both on the same day.
Dedukh and Yevhen Shcherban's son, Yevhen Jr. eventually came back to Donetsk, probably to salvage what they could of the remains of the late Yevhen Shcherban's assests; but on 22nd September 1997 the vehicle in which they were travelling was shot up, and a bodyguard killed.
A highly placed police general announced in a newspaper article: "Had Dedukh not appeared there would not have been even one similar shooting in the oblast. You judge, in 1994 there were over 20 such shootings; this year, just three. More such ordered hits will not take place this year: Dedukh has gone from Donbas." What starker warning could there be: Don't come back, or else....
The police general was correct in one matter. By this time the cycle of killings that wreaked havoc in the region through the middle of the decade had ended. The governor was now Viktor Yanukovych, and Rinat Akhmetov was undisputed 'king of Donbas'. Lazarenko was in political opposition and Tymoshenko in parliament developing a political career.
In a 'Dzerkalo Tyzhnya interview' days after the assassination attempt on Dedukh and Yevhen Jr. the latter was asked: Who of the current politicians in the Donetsk oblast, ex-governor Volodymyr Shcherban, mayor of Donetsk [current VR speaker Volodymyr Rybak] or today's governor [Yanukovych] supported you in those days [following the death of your father]?
He replies: "Nobody..Basically it was [just] dad's business friends."
The logical conclusion is: those who carved up Yevhen Shcherban's assets did so ruthlessly, greedily and just as fast as they could, and to hell with his remaining family.
In the same interview Yevhen Jr. was asked: 'There is an opinion that your father prevented the penetration of structures from Dnipropetrovsk into the Donetsk territory. Could you confirm this?"
He replies: "I don't think that there was any obstacle to structures from Dnipropetrovsk. On the contrary, it was a case of uniting efforts.."
He confirmed the view that by the time of his death, Yevhen Shcherban and Lazarenko and Tymoshenko had a good working relationship. Certainly no motive for killing his father Yevhen...
p.s. A final thought. Who would attempt a spectacular assassination attempt inside a heavily guarded, high security environment, such as an airport?
The story above does in no way prove 'Donetski' were responsible for Yevhen Shcherban's killing - but it gives an insight into the rapacious and lawless business culture that existed, particularly in that region. It seems that it was they who benefited most from the 'carve-up' of Shcherban's vast wealth...
'Donetski', the same individuals, now dominate contemporary Ukrainian politics, law enforcement agencies and judiciary...
The current Shcherban murder trial is a banal attempt to cleanse the past and at the same time destroy president Yanukovych's deadliest foe.
More evidence on Shcherban murder
An new witness, Olelksandra Kuzel, appeared on Thursday in the Yevhen murder pretrial hearing.
Prosecutors allege his killing at Donetsk airport on 3 November 1996 was commissioned by former PM's Tymoshenko and Lazarenko.
Shcherban's wife was also shot dead during the assassination of her husband
Kuzel provides more evidence of the absurdity of the case.
On the eve of the vote in Parliament to appoint Lazarenko PM, held on 28 May 1996, Scherban urged members of his parliamentary faction, "Social Market Choice" to support the candidacy of Lazarenko. "Our faction voted in full for Lazarenko. Without Shcherban's command our faction would not have done this because so many were against it."
As I have mentioned many times in my previous blogs, Lazarenko, and Tymoshenko, by the start of that year were on good terms with Yevhen Shcherban. By the end of 1995 gas supply contracts had been signed. In January 1996 Shcherban had invited Tymoshenko and her husband to his grand birthday party.
The death of Shcherban provided no benefit to Tymoshenko's UESU. Quite the opposite, the company lost the one person who represented their interests in the Donbas who had the power to fend off criminal attacks on their mutual gas business.
In a tv interview, Kuzhel also points the finger at one man who may have benefited from the death of Shcherban - her predecessor witness at the pre-trial hearings - Volodymyr Shcherban.
Volodymyr and Yevhen had been close business partners. Yevhen, possibly the richest many in Ukraine at that time, had intended to support Volodymyr's candidature in the 1998 presidential elections, but later switched in favour of former PM Yevhen Marchuk, making him leader of his party, much to Volodymyr's displeasure.
Two days after Yevhen and his wife's killing, Volodymyr's son Artem took over $2 million out of a US business account of a company run by Yevhen's wife Nadia Nikitin. He could not wait to even sit down with the Shcherban's two orphaned boys, Rusland and Yevhen Jr. to decide how their parents assets were to be divided up.
Kuzhel recalls how Volodymyr Shcherban proposed to formalize the custody of Yevhen Shcherban's children, but they refused his offer. Eventually a business partner of the late Shcherban's, Yuriy Dedukh, was appointed their guardian. A few months after this, in September 1997, Dedukh and the elder Shcherban son, Ruslan survived and assassination attempt in which a bodyguard was killed.
Luckily, with the help of an old friend of their father's, legendary singer Yosef Kobzon, the orphaned children did manage to hold on to a small fraction of their late parents' assets.
Kuzel also believes that the death of Shcherban provided big political dividends to Viktor Medvedchuk (then leader of the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united)).
"After the murder of Yevhen Shcherban, his political fraction 'Social Market Choice' disintegrated. Before this it had been a very powerful group, as was [Shcherban's] Liberal Party. After some time, Medvedchuk's positions began strengthening and Yevhen Marchuk, who previously served in our party, went over to them," said Kuzhel.
Tetyana Chornovil, in her latest blog, gives much information on Volodymyr Shcherban and his involvement with namesake Yevhen, and how the latter's children were all but abandoned by their father's most powerful associates, including by the-then oblast governor, Viktor Yanukovych, and by current parliamentary speaker, and the-then mayor of Donetsk Volodymyr Rybak. [Maybe more on this later..]
Prosecutors allege his killing at Donetsk airport on 3 November 1996 was commissioned by former PM's Tymoshenko and Lazarenko.
Shcherban's wife was also shot dead during the assassination of her husband
Kuzel provides more evidence of the absurdity of the case.
On the eve of the vote in Parliament to appoint Lazarenko PM, held on 28 May 1996, Scherban urged members of his parliamentary faction, "Social Market Choice" to support the candidacy of Lazarenko. "Our faction voted in full for Lazarenko. Without Shcherban's command our faction would not have done this because so many were against it."
As I have mentioned many times in my previous blogs, Lazarenko, and Tymoshenko, by the start of that year were on good terms with Yevhen Shcherban. By the end of 1995 gas supply contracts had been signed. In January 1996 Shcherban had invited Tymoshenko and her husband to his grand birthday party.
The death of Shcherban provided no benefit to Tymoshenko's UESU. Quite the opposite, the company lost the one person who represented their interests in the Donbas who had the power to fend off criminal attacks on their mutual gas business.
In a tv interview, Kuzhel also points the finger at one man who may have benefited from the death of Shcherban - her predecessor witness at the pre-trial hearings - Volodymyr Shcherban.
Volodymyr and Yevhen had been close business partners. Yevhen, possibly the richest many in Ukraine at that time, had intended to support Volodymyr's candidature in the 1998 presidential elections, but later switched in favour of former PM Yevhen Marchuk, making him leader of his party, much to Volodymyr's displeasure.
Two days after Yevhen and his wife's killing, Volodymyr's son Artem took over $2 million out of a US business account of a company run by Yevhen's wife Nadia Nikitin. He could not wait to even sit down with the Shcherban's two orphaned boys, Rusland and Yevhen Jr. to decide how their parents assets were to be divided up.
Kuzhel recalls how Volodymyr Shcherban proposed to formalize the custody of Yevhen Shcherban's children, but they refused his offer. Eventually a business partner of the late Shcherban's, Yuriy Dedukh, was appointed their guardian. A few months after this, in September 1997, Dedukh and the elder Shcherban son, Ruslan survived and assassination attempt in which a bodyguard was killed.
Luckily, with the help of an old friend of their father's, legendary singer Yosef Kobzon, the orphaned children did manage to hold on to a small fraction of their late parents' assets.
Kuzel also believes that the death of Shcherban provided big political dividends to Viktor Medvedchuk (then leader of the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united)).
"After the murder of Yevhen Shcherban, his political fraction 'Social Market Choice' disintegrated. Before this it had been a very powerful group, as was [Shcherban's] Liberal Party. After some time, Medvedchuk's positions began strengthening and Yevhen Marchuk, who previously served in our party, went over to them," said Kuzhel.
Tetyana Chornovil, in her latest blog, gives much information on Volodymyr Shcherban and his involvement with namesake Yevhen, and how the latter's children were all but abandoned by their father's most powerful associates, including by the-then oblast governor, Viktor Yanukovych, and by current parliamentary speaker, and the-then mayor of Donetsk Volodymyr Rybak. [Maybe more on this later..]
Thursday, March 07, 2013
Europeans horrified by Vlasenko ruling..and the end of democracy
The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland, has asked the Ukrainian authorities to explain on what legal basis Mr Serhiy Vlasenko, an opposition deputy, was stripped of his parliamentary seat yesterday.
“I find it very unusual that a deputy elected by the people can be expelled from Parliament at short notice and without having committed a serious crime.
I have asked the Ukrainian authorities to provide an explanation for this action which may affect a fundamental principle in a democracy, the sovereignty of a people to elect its deputies”, he said. [Source]
Valeriy Portnikov explains why this week was the one when democracy came to an end in contemporary Ukraine:
Valeriy Portnikov explains why this week was the one when democracy came to an end in contemporary Ukraine:
"If presidential elections take place in 2015, Yanukovych will lose, O.P.'s clearly confirm this . He will lose even if Tymoshenko does not run. He would lose to Yatsenyuk and would lose to Klitschko. Right now he would probably beat Tyahnybok - but this is right now. By 2015, Yanukovych would lose the election to anyone - and he understands this better than Yatsenyuk, Klytschko, or Tyahnybok.
And if he loses, in just a few days such fraud, such corruption by the 'Donetski' will be discovered that there are not enough prosecutors and investigatorsin the land to investigate, or judges to sentence the crimes.
In contrast to millions of his fellow citizens, he has plenty to lose. That is why he is not going to lose. And those who have hopes for 2015, can relax. There will be no elections in 2015. The time when power in Ukraine changed as a result of elections is over."
And if he loses, in just a few days such fraud, such corruption by the 'Donetski' will be discovered that there are not enough prosecutors and investigatorsin the land to investigate, or judges to sentence the crimes.
In contrast to millions of his fellow citizens, he has plenty to lose. That is why he is not going to lose. And those who have hopes for 2015, can relax. There will be no elections in 2015. The time when power in Ukraine changed as a result of elections is over."
Wednesday, March 06, 2013
A tragic day in Ukraine's history
Today's high court ruling to strip V.R. member, and Yulia Tymoshenko's top legal adviser, Serhiy Vlasenko, of his parliamentary deputy mandate will have a very negative effect in parliaments of the European Union members.
Every sitting member of parliament knows how hard they fought to secure their seat. They know how precious it is. To witness this being removed at a whim, by the most dubious of legal means, will merely provide more solid evidence of the selective use of the judiciary in Ukraine for persecution of the opposition. Vlasenko's only 'crime' is that of defending Yulia Tymoshenko.
Last week in Brussels Viktor Yanukovych was given a last chance to sort out problems with this selective use of justice by the end of May.
The court decision was a swift, calculated move - intended to break any illusions and nullify any chance of an EU-Ukraine Association Agreement being signed in the Autumn.
European friends of Ukraine are horrified.
Every sitting member of parliament knows how hard they fought to secure their seat. They know how precious it is. To witness this being removed at a whim, by the most dubious of legal means, will merely provide more solid evidence of the selective use of the judiciary in Ukraine for persecution of the opposition. Vlasenko's only 'crime' is that of defending Yulia Tymoshenko.
Last week in Brussels Viktor Yanukovych was given a last chance to sort out problems with this selective use of justice by the end of May.
The court decision was a swift, calculated move - intended to break any illusions and nullify any chance of an EU-Ukraine Association Agreement being signed in the Autumn.
European friends of Ukraine are horrified.
Tuesday, March 05, 2013
Shcherban had no problems with Lazarenko
A television video of an interview with Yevhen Shcherban recorded just a few months before his murder has come to light.
Shcherban speaks highly of Lazarenko: "Pavlo Lazarenko has taken his rightful place (on becoming appointed prime minister). He is a 'top man' [khazyain], he has demonstrated success in his own [Dnipropetrovsk] region. This is a worthy person who has taken up an appropriate position. A man has come to power who shares our views." Doesn't sound like a man who felt under threat from Lazarenko...
Germany has taken its gloves off and carpeted Ukraine's ambassador to Berlin after Ukrainian authorities stepped up the pressure on Yulia Tymoshenko's defence councillor, parliamentary deputy Sergey Vlasenko.
According to Frankfurter Allgemeinde. the German Foreign Ministry and the Office of the Federal Chancellor believe: "Ukraine can forget about the much desired association agreement with the EU, if the issue with Tymoshenko's detention is not solved".
This is hardly surprising. The witness testifying in Monday's pretrial hearings in to Yevhen Shcherban's murder, Volodymyr Shcherban, may well be being blackmailed to provide false evidence against Tymoshenko.
In January 2002 he was under investigation by a parliamentary committee for illegal appropriation of property in Sumy, where he was governor. He also allegedly rigged communal heating charges and electricity charges in the town. He was also accused of filling law enforcement agencies there with his own people from Donetsk. This case is falling apart at the seams already. Ukraine's judiciary is daily providing more evidence of its incompetence, and that it is a tool of political oppression.
Shcherban speaks highly of Lazarenko: "Pavlo Lazarenko has taken his rightful place (on becoming appointed prime minister). He is a 'top man' [khazyain], he has demonstrated success in his own [Dnipropetrovsk] region. This is a worthy person who has taken up an appropriate position. A man has come to power who shares our views." Doesn't sound like a man who felt under threat from Lazarenko...
Germany has taken its gloves off and carpeted Ukraine's ambassador to Berlin after Ukrainian authorities stepped up the pressure on Yulia Tymoshenko's defence councillor, parliamentary deputy Sergey Vlasenko.
According to Frankfurter Allgemeinde. the German Foreign Ministry and the Office of the Federal Chancellor believe: "Ukraine can forget about the much desired association agreement with the EU, if the issue with Tymoshenko's detention is not solved".
This is hardly surprising. The witness testifying in Monday's pretrial hearings in to Yevhen Shcherban's murder, Volodymyr Shcherban, may well be being blackmailed to provide false evidence against Tymoshenko.
In January 2002 he was under investigation by a parliamentary committee for illegal appropriation of property in Sumy, where he was governor. He also allegedly rigged communal heating charges and electricity charges in the town. He was also accused of filling law enforcement agencies there with his own people from Donetsk. This case is falling apart at the seams already. Ukraine's judiciary is daily providing more evidence of its incompetence, and that it is a tool of political oppression.
Sunday, March 03, 2013
Shcherban's murder - a Russian connection?
Several days ago Kyryl Kostenko, the mayor of Crimean seaside town Simeyiz, was shot dead.
In recent times, the mayors of other Crimea seaside towns - those of Novofedorivka, Malyi Mayak, and Vesele had all been assassinated or have died in peculiar circumstances. All their deaths were most likely connected to conflicts surrounding 'land distribution', and are a reminder of continuing lawlessness in Ukraine, where conflicts between 'criminal businessmen' are still from time to time resolved through the barrel of a gun.
The apogee of such lawlessness was the period of the early/mid nineties in Donbas. The current authorities are now trying to blame former PM Yulia Tymoshenko with one of the most most prominent murders of that time - that of Yevhen Shcherban.
Unbiassed observers such as Yulia Mostova in Dzerkalo Tyzhnya offers several possible versions for Shcherban's untimely end which has been manipulated by politicians to discredit their political or business opponents, be it Pavlo Lazarenko, Leonid Kuchma, former political high-flyer Yevhen Marchuk, oligarch Rinat Akhmetov, and so on. Most of these theories have major defect - lacks of motive and lack of any substantive evidence.
Tetyana Chornovol, in her latest well-researched Ukrainska Pravda blog proposes another, very credible scenario. It helps explain recollections made to your blogger by people familiar with Eastern Ukraine about the tangible fear of Russian businessmen there, and also the mutual hatred felt between two parts of the steel town and port of Mariupol.
Her account also helps logically explain the chronology of the killings that took place in 1995 and 1996.
Tetyana Chornovol questions why the next witness in the trial of Yulia Tymoshenko, Volodymyr Shcherban [and many others] never mention gas war between The Industrial Union of Donbas' [IUD] and rival gas trader "Itera".
Volodymyr Shcherban [about whom I have previously written], together with Yevhen Shcherban, and mafia capo Ahat Bragin controlled the economic, political and criminal life of the region as a team. Volymyr Shcherban provided a 'roof' for illegal activities in the region - this was noted in contemporary official reports in Kyiv.
These three began co-operating soon after the declaration of Ukrainian independence. On November 10 1992 prominent Donetsk businessman/mafia boss Yanosh Kranz, was shot dead. Akhat Bragin, his biggest rival, was suspected of commissioning the killing. Among the places regularly visited at that tine by Bragin, according to police records, where the offices of the "Aton" corporation whose co-founder was Yevhen Shcherban, and offices of the "Ukraina" department store run by Volodymyr Shcherban.
In the next few years, the trio had become wealthiest people in the region. Volodymyr Scherban won the elections for governor, and Yevhen Shcherban had formed a large faction in the Verkhovna Rada. Bragin, unsurprisingly, kept out of sight whilst still pulling the strings.
In early 1996 Yevhen Shcherban declared the next president of Ukraine would be a protege of Donbas - Volodymyr Shcherban. But by the summer of 1996 their relationship cooled considerably because Yevhen Shcherban had changed his position on his favoured presidential candidate, he decided to bet on Yevhen Marchuk [much to the disconcertment of the-then president Kuchma, who saw Marchuk as a major rival].
Volodymyr Shcherban's message when he appears a a witness in the Shcherban murder trial will be simple and clear - the motive for the murder Shcherban was the gas war with UESU - ie. with Lazarenko and Tymoshenko. But this flies in the face of evidence - by the end of 1995, and during summer 1996, UESU was already working constructively with IUD - the latter had become the gas monopolist in the Donetsk region. [IUD was the brainchild Shcherban, Akhmetov, Haiduk, and Momot]. By late 1995 UESU sold gas to IUD which in turn, supplied Donetsk companies, charging a small mark-up for themselves. Importantly, IUD could benefit from their strong position in the region by demanding barter payment for gas - products which they could 'turn around' themselves to make huge profits. If their customers failed to pay for gas, part or all of their assets could be grabbed by IUD in lieu of payment..
And it was Lazarenko's initiative that enabled the "Donetski" to create their gas monopoly.Until that time the gas market in Donetsk region was dominated by the Russian companies: "Gazprom" and "Itera". When Lazarenko and the-then Prime Minister Yevhen Marchuk agreed the new scheme of gas supply, the smarter heads in Donetsk realized this would give them a chance to create a monopoly under the government umbrella, enabling them to take full control of the gas market in the region.
How this was done was described in a newspaper interview given by the mayor of Mariupol, Mikhailo Pozhivanov who claimed Yevhen Shcherban even made death threats to secure the gas business of factories in his town.
Volodymyr Shcherban in February 12, 1996, signed a decree stating the only mediator between wholesale importers of natural gas and enterprises of the Donetsk region was the be IUD.
"Itera" fought for every company by offering a lower price and blackmailing directors, e.g. by withholding essential products from certain companies.
By early 1996, the Russians tried to organise a mutiny among the "red factory directors" of Donbas. "Itera" started negotiations with individual heads of Donbas companies who were willing to break contracts with IUD. In March 1996, "Itera" appointed Donbas specialist Alexander Shvedchenko as its head in Ukraine. He was a man who had had close ties with the, by-then late Akhat Bragin.
Bragin had been blown up at the Shakhtar stadium in October 1995. But it has to be remembered Rinat Akhmetov, Bragin's right hand man, by then had also a big stake in IUD.
Ahat Bragin and Shvedchenko both loved sport: Bragin supported "Shakhtar" football team and Shvedchenko a basketball team with the same name. Shvedchenko had a stake in the central market of Donetsk, which had been 'overseen' by Bragin; he also owned companies that imported then exotic fruits, bananas, oranges etc. His partner in this business were Sergei Roman and [later PM Azarov's former deputy] Boris Kolesnikov.
In 1996, there were no official successors to Bragin's empire following his murder. Alexander Shvedchenko may have thought the crown could be his if he used "Itera" as a lever. "Itera", according to Russian media were close to influential criminal circles in Russia. Bragin had in previous years almost destroyed the power of mafia from other parts of the former Soviet Union in his own 'backyard', but after his death perhaps the Russians thought they had the chance of restoring their influence with the help of someone who could be a potential heir to Bragin's crown.
In March 1996, three weeks after starting to work as the chief Ukrainian representative of "Itera", Shvedchenko was shot dead. His partner Sergei Roman fled abroad and was also soon killed.
Lucky for him, the third and sole remaining partner of the Roman-Shvedchenko-Kolesnikov trio, was able to convince Rinat Akhmetov of his fidelity....
At the time of the murder of Shvedchenko it was not only the "Donetski" who were engaged in a war with "Itera" - so where the "Dnipropetrovski".
"Itera", which had ties to "Gazprom" has started to block the supplies of gas from "Gazprom" to "UESU." But the Ukrainian side has a powerful weapon too - "Gazprom" were desperate for large diameter pipes for pipelines which were made exclusively at the Khartsyzsk Pipe Plant in Donbas.
To increase the output of pipes at Khartsyzsk, Shcherban and Lazarenko worked to unite the Mariupol Azovstal plant with the neighbouring Mariupol Illich plant - these would provide more raw material for pipemaking. However, the management at "Azovstal" was against such an association. The head of "Azovstal", Alexander Bulanda even asked state security services for protection, as his life was under threat. In early June the deputy director of Azovstal, Fedor Buzhan was killed in a car smash. On June 13, the day of the funeral, Pavlo Lazarenko, by then prime minister, signed a decree to merge the steel giants. This was another example of Lazarenko - Yevhen Shcherban co-operation.
However, the author of this scheme, Alexander Momot, did not witness this victory. On May 16 1996 Momot was shot dead in the centre of Donetsk on his doorstep.
Volodymyr Shcherban today argues that Momot was killed on the orders of Tymoshenko and Lazarenko but can give no motive for this.
Chornovol describes how, when in Kyiv, top people from Donetsk would stay and dine at a ship-restaurant-sauna, the "Poseidon", moored near the Paton bridge over the Dnipro river. [Years later, in 2005 the ship was burned out.]
In 1996 it had been one of the favorite haunts for 'Donetski' because the ship had a Donetsk owner, and was very convenient to use. It even boasted several luxury hotel rooms.
A few days before his death, Alexander Momot met the head of "Itera", Igor Makarov, on board the ship. The meeting was also attended by Vitaliy Haiduk [who later was a close and trusted associate of Yulia Tymoshenko.]
Yevhan Scherban was supposed to attend too but he refused at the last moment to demonstrate his disdain toward the head of "Itera". The conversation on "Poseidon" was very bad tempered and rude. Momot was particularly animated and cursed at Makarov. According to criminal codes, this sort of thing was unacceptable. Igor Makarov, according to Russian sources, had been linked to top Russian underworld leaders. Less than a week after this conversation, Alexander Momot was buried.
Shortly before his death Momot had told a journalist that writing stories on the gas market in Ukraine was dangerous. "There are forces, including those in Russia, who want to grasp this market for themselves, to use the convoluted situation with payments for gas for their own interests," said Momot to the journalist.
After the death of Momot, Lazarenko quickly settled his differences with Itera who paid him off. But the Donbas war with Itera continued
During the spring of 1996, "Itera" started worked with Victor Pinchuk's industrial group. Pinchuk later became son-in-law of president Kuchma, so it is not surprising that the investigation into the murder of Shcherban dried up.
Volodymyr Shcherban started to spend more time abroad after Momot's death. For many, many months Rinat Akhmetov virtually never left his private 'Lux' estate situated in the Donetsk Botanical Garden. Yevhen Shcherban tried to leave for the U.S. but did not because his son Ruslan had been refused a visa. [BTW, Ruslan to this day allegedly employs a phalanx of bodyguards. The had been an attempt on the life of his brother, Yevhen jr, in September 1997, almost a year after the death of his father at Donetsk airport.]
A former deputy parliamentary deputy, Anatoliy Motspan says on September 20 1996 he was approached by Yevhen Shcherban in order to give the Parliamentary Committee set up to fight corruption some incriminating material on the head of "Azovstal", Alexander Bulanda.
Throughout 1996 Alexander Bulanda had taken a highly negative attitude towards Sherban and made great efforts to wriggle out of the IUD gas diktats. His position was to try a get "Azovstal" to return to supplies of gas direct from Russia from which the company had benefited prior to 1996.
Anatoly Motspan said that Yevhen Shcherban introduced him to Serhiy Taruta, who was supposed to explain the documents. "But just don't tell the committee his name," warned Shcherban, "because they will kill him."
"I asked him [Yevhen Shcherban] what were his relationships with Lazarenko like", said Motspan "He told me: like this, and shown me a thumbs up."
Shortly before the murder of Yevhen Scherban, Alexandra Kuzhel [an old time acquainatance of his] met Shcherban at Borispol airport.
"He was flying to Donetsk. I reminded him that he was going to hand me, as a member of the parliamentary commission studying the energy market of Ukraine, documents regarding Itera's criminal behaviour. "He told me: I won't do this - I want you to live. "
Yevhen Shcherban was shot dead with other victims when his private aircraft landed at Donetsk airport having flown from Moscow. It is quite possible his killers had been tipped of when his plane took off. The killers were led by Vladimir Bolotskikh, a Russian.
p.s. IMO Tetyana Chornovol's scenario 'ticks more boxes' that most of the others proposed in this dirty business...It describes how this series of murders were connected to one another.
Where does Tymoshenko figure in all of this? .At the time of Yevhen Shcherban's death she was already actively campaigning for the V.R. - she successfully entered parliament just a few weeks after the killing, and resigned from UESU.
In recent times, the mayors of other Crimea seaside towns - those of Novofedorivka, Malyi Mayak, and Vesele had all been assassinated or have died in peculiar circumstances. All their deaths were most likely connected to conflicts surrounding 'land distribution', and are a reminder of continuing lawlessness in Ukraine, where conflicts between 'criminal businessmen' are still from time to time resolved through the barrel of a gun.
The apogee of such lawlessness was the period of the early/mid nineties in Donbas. The current authorities are now trying to blame former PM Yulia Tymoshenko with one of the most most prominent murders of that time - that of Yevhen Shcherban.
Unbiassed observers such as Yulia Mostova in Dzerkalo Tyzhnya offers several possible versions for Shcherban's untimely end which has been manipulated by politicians to discredit their political or business opponents, be it Pavlo Lazarenko, Leonid Kuchma, former political high-flyer Yevhen Marchuk, oligarch Rinat Akhmetov, and so on. Most of these theories have major defect - lacks of motive and lack of any substantive evidence.
Tetyana Chornovol, in her latest well-researched Ukrainska Pravda blog proposes another, very credible scenario. It helps explain recollections made to your blogger by people familiar with Eastern Ukraine about the tangible fear of Russian businessmen there, and also the mutual hatred felt between two parts of the steel town and port of Mariupol.
Her account also helps logically explain the chronology of the killings that took place in 1995 and 1996.
Tetyana Chornovol questions why the next witness in the trial of Yulia Tymoshenko, Volodymyr Shcherban [and many others] never mention gas war between The Industrial Union of Donbas' [IUD] and rival gas trader "Itera".
Volodymyr Shcherban [about whom I have previously written], together with Yevhen Shcherban, and mafia capo Ahat Bragin controlled the economic, political and criminal life of the region as a team. Volymyr Shcherban provided a 'roof' for illegal activities in the region - this was noted in contemporary official reports in Kyiv.
These three began co-operating soon after the declaration of Ukrainian independence. On November 10 1992 prominent Donetsk businessman/mafia boss Yanosh Kranz, was shot dead. Akhat Bragin, his biggest rival, was suspected of commissioning the killing. Among the places regularly visited at that tine by Bragin, according to police records, where the offices of the "Aton" corporation whose co-founder was Yevhen Shcherban, and offices of the "Ukraina" department store run by Volodymyr Shcherban.
In the next few years, the trio had become wealthiest people in the region. Volodymyr Scherban won the elections for governor, and Yevhen Shcherban had formed a large faction in the Verkhovna Rada. Bragin, unsurprisingly, kept out of sight whilst still pulling the strings.
In early 1996 Yevhen Shcherban declared the next president of Ukraine would be a protege of Donbas - Volodymyr Shcherban. But by the summer of 1996 their relationship cooled considerably because Yevhen Shcherban had changed his position on his favoured presidential candidate, he decided to bet on Yevhen Marchuk [much to the disconcertment of the-then president Kuchma, who saw Marchuk as a major rival].
Volodymyr Shcherban's message when he appears a a witness in the Shcherban murder trial will be simple and clear - the motive for the murder Shcherban was the gas war with UESU - ie. with Lazarenko and Tymoshenko. But this flies in the face of evidence - by the end of 1995, and during summer 1996, UESU was already working constructively with IUD - the latter had become the gas monopolist in the Donetsk region. [IUD was the brainchild Shcherban, Akhmetov, Haiduk, and Momot]. By late 1995 UESU sold gas to IUD which in turn, supplied Donetsk companies, charging a small mark-up for themselves. Importantly, IUD could benefit from their strong position in the region by demanding barter payment for gas - products which they could 'turn around' themselves to make huge profits. If their customers failed to pay for gas, part or all of their assets could be grabbed by IUD in lieu of payment..
And it was Lazarenko's initiative that enabled the "Donetski" to create their gas monopoly.Until that time the gas market in Donetsk region was dominated by the Russian companies: "Gazprom" and "Itera". When Lazarenko and the-then Prime Minister Yevhen Marchuk agreed the new scheme of gas supply, the smarter heads in Donetsk realized this would give them a chance to create a monopoly under the government umbrella, enabling them to take full control of the gas market in the region.
How this was done was described in a newspaper interview given by the mayor of Mariupol, Mikhailo Pozhivanov who claimed Yevhen Shcherban even made death threats to secure the gas business of factories in his town.
Volodymyr Shcherban in February 12, 1996, signed a decree stating the only mediator between wholesale importers of natural gas and enterprises of the Donetsk region was the be IUD.
"Itera" fought for every company by offering a lower price and blackmailing directors, e.g. by withholding essential products from certain companies.
By early 1996, the Russians tried to organise a mutiny among the "red factory directors" of Donbas. "Itera" started negotiations with individual heads of Donbas companies who were willing to break contracts with IUD. In March 1996, "Itera" appointed Donbas specialist Alexander Shvedchenko as its head in Ukraine. He was a man who had had close ties with the, by-then late Akhat Bragin.
Bragin had been blown up at the Shakhtar stadium in October 1995. But it has to be remembered Rinat Akhmetov, Bragin's right hand man, by then had also a big stake in IUD.
Ahat Bragin and Shvedchenko both loved sport: Bragin supported "Shakhtar" football team and Shvedchenko a basketball team with the same name. Shvedchenko had a stake in the central market of Donetsk, which had been 'overseen' by Bragin; he also owned companies that imported then exotic fruits, bananas, oranges etc. His partner in this business were Sergei Roman and [later PM Azarov's former deputy] Boris Kolesnikov.
In 1996, there were no official successors to Bragin's empire following his murder. Alexander Shvedchenko may have thought the crown could be his if he used "Itera" as a lever. "Itera", according to Russian media were close to influential criminal circles in Russia. Bragin had in previous years almost destroyed the power of mafia from other parts of the former Soviet Union in his own 'backyard', but after his death perhaps the Russians thought they had the chance of restoring their influence with the help of someone who could be a potential heir to Bragin's crown.
In March 1996, three weeks after starting to work as the chief Ukrainian representative of "Itera", Shvedchenko was shot dead. His partner Sergei Roman fled abroad and was also soon killed.
Lucky for him, the third and sole remaining partner of the Roman-Shvedchenko-Kolesnikov trio, was able to convince Rinat Akhmetov of his fidelity....
At the time of the murder of Shvedchenko it was not only the "Donetski" who were engaged in a war with "Itera" - so where the "Dnipropetrovski".
"Itera", which had ties to "Gazprom" has started to block the supplies of gas from "Gazprom" to "UESU." But the Ukrainian side has a powerful weapon too - "Gazprom" were desperate for large diameter pipes for pipelines which were made exclusively at the Khartsyzsk Pipe Plant in Donbas.
To increase the output of pipes at Khartsyzsk, Shcherban and Lazarenko worked to unite the Mariupol Azovstal plant with the neighbouring Mariupol Illich plant - these would provide more raw material for pipemaking. However, the management at "Azovstal" was against such an association. The head of "Azovstal", Alexander Bulanda even asked state security services for protection, as his life was under threat. In early June the deputy director of Azovstal, Fedor Buzhan was killed in a car smash. On June 13, the day of the funeral, Pavlo Lazarenko, by then prime minister, signed a decree to merge the steel giants. This was another example of Lazarenko - Yevhen Shcherban co-operation.
However, the author of this scheme, Alexander Momot, did not witness this victory. On May 16 1996 Momot was shot dead in the centre of Donetsk on his doorstep.
Volodymyr Shcherban today argues that Momot was killed on the orders of Tymoshenko and Lazarenko but can give no motive for this.
Chornovol describes how, when in Kyiv, top people from Donetsk would stay and dine at a ship-restaurant-sauna, the "Poseidon", moored near the Paton bridge over the Dnipro river. [Years later, in 2005 the ship was burned out.]
In 1996 it had been one of the favorite haunts for 'Donetski' because the ship had a Donetsk owner, and was very convenient to use. It even boasted several luxury hotel rooms.
A few days before his death, Alexander Momot met the head of "Itera", Igor Makarov, on board the ship. The meeting was also attended by Vitaliy Haiduk [who later was a close and trusted associate of Yulia Tymoshenko.]
Yevhan Scherban was supposed to attend too but he refused at the last moment to demonstrate his disdain toward the head of "Itera". The conversation on "Poseidon" was very bad tempered and rude. Momot was particularly animated and cursed at Makarov. According to criminal codes, this sort of thing was unacceptable. Igor Makarov, according to Russian sources, had been linked to top Russian underworld leaders. Less than a week after this conversation, Alexander Momot was buried.
Shortly before his death Momot had told a journalist that writing stories on the gas market in Ukraine was dangerous. "There are forces, including those in Russia, who want to grasp this market for themselves, to use the convoluted situation with payments for gas for their own interests," said Momot to the journalist.
After the death of Momot, Lazarenko quickly settled his differences with Itera who paid him off. But the Donbas war with Itera continued
During the spring of 1996, "Itera" started worked with Victor Pinchuk's industrial group. Pinchuk later became son-in-law of president Kuchma, so it is not surprising that the investigation into the murder of Shcherban dried up.
Volodymyr Shcherban started to spend more time abroad after Momot's death. For many, many months Rinat Akhmetov virtually never left his private 'Lux' estate situated in the Donetsk Botanical Garden. Yevhen Shcherban tried to leave for the U.S. but did not because his son Ruslan had been refused a visa. [BTW, Ruslan to this day allegedly employs a phalanx of bodyguards. The had been an attempt on the life of his brother, Yevhen jr, in September 1997, almost a year after the death of his father at Donetsk airport.]
A former deputy parliamentary deputy, Anatoliy Motspan says on September 20 1996 he was approached by Yevhen Shcherban in order to give the Parliamentary Committee set up to fight corruption some incriminating material on the head of "Azovstal", Alexander Bulanda.
Throughout 1996 Alexander Bulanda had taken a highly negative attitude towards Sherban and made great efforts to wriggle out of the IUD gas diktats. His position was to try a get "Azovstal" to return to supplies of gas direct from Russia from which the company had benefited prior to 1996.
Anatoly Motspan said that Yevhen Shcherban introduced him to Serhiy Taruta, who was supposed to explain the documents. "But just don't tell the committee his name," warned Shcherban, "because they will kill him."
"I asked him [Yevhen Shcherban] what were his relationships with Lazarenko like", said Motspan "He told me: like this, and shown me a thumbs up."
Shortly before the murder of Yevhen Scherban, Alexandra Kuzhel [an old time acquainatance of his] met Shcherban at Borispol airport.
"He was flying to Donetsk. I reminded him that he was going to hand me, as a member of the parliamentary commission studying the energy market of Ukraine, documents regarding Itera's criminal behaviour. "He told me: I won't do this - I want you to live. "
Yevhen Shcherban was shot dead with other victims when his private aircraft landed at Donetsk airport having flown from Moscow. It is quite possible his killers had been tipped of when his plane took off. The killers were led by Vladimir Bolotskikh, a Russian.
p.s. IMO Tetyana Chornovol's scenario 'ticks more boxes' that most of the others proposed in this dirty business...It describes how this series of murders were connected to one another.
Where does Tymoshenko figure in all of this? .At the time of Yevhen Shcherban's death she was already actively campaigning for the V.R. - she successfully entered parliament just a few weeks after the killing, and resigned from UESU.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Crime, politics, law enforcement...and banking..
Several days ago I posted about the 'Tangled web of crime, politics, law enforcement, and business...' that has resurfaced thanks to the attempts of the current authorities to dump the blame for the killing of Donetsk businessman Yevhen Shcherban on former PM Yulia Tymoshenko.
Shcherban, of course, was only one of dozens of top businessmen/gangsters that came to a violent end in the early and mid nineties in Donesk and surrounding areas.
The evidence thus far presented by prosecutors in pre-trial hearings into Shcherban's murder, in particular that of 'witness' Ihor Maryinkov, has bordered on the farcical.
However I missed out one more obvious thread in this web of crime, politics, law enforcement, and business - that of banking...The huge sums of money being made by unlawful means that enabled certain people to turn into immensely wealthy oligarchs had to be filtered/laundered through the banking system that existed in Ukraine at that time. It is probably safe to assume that most of the money passing through banks in Ukraine in the early and mid nineties came from highly suspect sources.
Tetyana Chornovol alludes to this in her latest 'Ukrainska Pravda' blog which is entitled:
"Was Kushnir the agent of an associate of Volodymyr Shcherban's financed by Valentina Arbuzova?"
[Kushnir was head of an allegedly notorious band of killers who were found guilty of murdering several of the most prominent politicians/gangsters/government officials in Ukraine.
Volodymyr Shcherban, a former governor of Donetsk and close associate of Yevhen Shcherban, is due to testify next week.
Valentyna Arbuzova is mother of the former head of the National Bank of Ukraine and now deputy PM, Serhiy Arbuzov.]
Here is a summary of Chronovol's blog:
The Shcherban murder trial has now begun; but already the impression is that it is completely rigged.
The "professional" witness Maryinkov gave evidence in almost all of the trials of members of the Kushnir gang. But he also admitted he was very close with members of this bloody gang - Ryabin, a gang member, and Kushnir himself even slept in his hotel room, and then it turns out that he has a particularly close relationship with three generals of the SBU [Security Service of Ukraine]. In particular, he is a business partner of Yuriy Vandin, who had investigated the murder Shcherban. Surely it is nonsense when a prosecution witness is so close to the investigator who initiated charges in any criminal case.
Chornovol refers to a letter sent in 2007 to the Ukrainian Commissioner for Human Rights, Nina Karpachova, by former police Major Vyacheslav Sinenko, who was convicted for his involvement in the murder of Donetsk mafia capo Akhat Bragin. [more on Sinenko in the first link of this blog]
Sinenko claims that the charges against him were fabricated. Coincidentally, Maryinkov was the main prosecution witness who testified against Sinenko.
In one portion of this letter. Sinenko wrote that amongst members of the Kushnir gang mentioned by investigators, he only knew Kushnir as the brother of the head of police investigations, Colonel Yakov Kushnir, and as an agent of the head of Donetsk police, General Varaki, a.k.a 'Rogov'.
Kushnir's brother really did work for the police. However, he retired long before the murder of Shcherban, and a few years later emigrated to Israel.
General Varaki was known to be extremely close to the-then Donetsk governor Volodymyr Shcherban in the mid 90's. When Volodymyr Scherban was later appointed governor of Sumy, he invited Varaki to be part of his team. Varaki did not work for long as deputy governor of Sumy - a month later he was killed in a car crash ...
Before the trials into the murders of Bragin and Shcherban no-one had ever heard of the Kushnir gang in Donbas. The names usually mentioned by locals were other "heroes" such as Givi, Alik Grek, Yuriy Maloy, Rinat, Misha Kosoy.
In 1994, a local branch of PrivatBank was opened in the town. According to inside sources, in the first years of its operation, it actively laundered money for Shcherban. However, what is particularly interesting is that it also "funded" the Donetsk police, in particular General Varaki. In 1995 the bank established a "Charitable Foundation for the Police" which for several years was run by General Varaki personally. The manager of the Donetsk branch of PrivatBank during those years, was Valentyna Arbuzov, mother of the current Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Arbuzov, a prominent member of 'The Family'.
[Investigators into money laundering in Donetsk have in the past frequently come to a sticky end. E.g. check out here and here ]
Chornovol suggests it is hardly likely Volodymyr Shcherban would have any reason for malevolence toward his distant family member Yevhen - they worked hand in glove as they rose to the top. But the ties described in her latest blog add more weight to the view that the Kushnir gang were totally 'set up' to take the rap for many of the high-profile murders that took place in the mid-nineties. [In the way Tymoshenko is now being set up?..F.N.]
p.s Over the years Volodymyr Shcherban's name has cropped up in my blogs on several occasions - not a nice man.
Shcherban, of course, was only one of dozens of top businessmen/gangsters that came to a violent end in the early and mid nineties in Donesk and surrounding areas.
The evidence thus far presented by prosecutors in pre-trial hearings into Shcherban's murder, in particular that of 'witness' Ihor Maryinkov, has bordered on the farcical.
However I missed out one more obvious thread in this web of crime, politics, law enforcement, and business - that of banking...The huge sums of money being made by unlawful means that enabled certain people to turn into immensely wealthy oligarchs had to be filtered/laundered through the banking system that existed in Ukraine at that time. It is probably safe to assume that most of the money passing through banks in Ukraine in the early and mid nineties came from highly suspect sources.
Tetyana Chornovol alludes to this in her latest 'Ukrainska Pravda' blog which is entitled:
"Was Kushnir the agent of an associate of Volodymyr Shcherban's financed by Valentina Arbuzova?"
[Kushnir was head of an allegedly notorious band of killers who were found guilty of murdering several of the most prominent politicians/gangsters/government officials in Ukraine.
Volodymyr Shcherban, a former governor of Donetsk and close associate of Yevhen Shcherban, is due to testify next week.
Valentyna Arbuzova is mother of the former head of the National Bank of Ukraine and now deputy PM, Serhiy Arbuzov.]
Here is a summary of Chronovol's blog:
The Shcherban murder trial has now begun; but already the impression is that it is completely rigged.
The "professional" witness Maryinkov gave evidence in almost all of the trials of members of the Kushnir gang. But he also admitted he was very close with members of this bloody gang - Ryabin, a gang member, and Kushnir himself even slept in his hotel room, and then it turns out that he has a particularly close relationship with three generals of the SBU [Security Service of Ukraine]. In particular, he is a business partner of Yuriy Vandin, who had investigated the murder Shcherban. Surely it is nonsense when a prosecution witness is so close to the investigator who initiated charges in any criminal case.
Chornovol refers to a letter sent in 2007 to the Ukrainian Commissioner for Human Rights, Nina Karpachova, by former police Major Vyacheslav Sinenko, who was convicted for his involvement in the murder of Donetsk mafia capo Akhat Bragin. [more on Sinenko in the first link of this blog]
Sinenko claims that the charges against him were fabricated. Coincidentally, Maryinkov was the main prosecution witness who testified against Sinenko.
In one portion of this letter. Sinenko wrote that amongst members of the Kushnir gang mentioned by investigators, he only knew Kushnir as the brother of the head of police investigations, Colonel Yakov Kushnir, and as an agent of the head of Donetsk police, General Varaki, a.k.a 'Rogov'.
Kushnir's brother really did work for the police. However, he retired long before the murder of Shcherban, and a few years later emigrated to Israel.
General Varaki was known to be extremely close to the-then Donetsk governor Volodymyr Shcherban in the mid 90's. When Volodymyr Scherban was later appointed governor of Sumy, he invited Varaki to be part of his team. Varaki did not work for long as deputy governor of Sumy - a month later he was killed in a car crash ...
Before the trials into the murders of Bragin and Shcherban no-one had ever heard of the Kushnir gang in Donbas. The names usually mentioned by locals were other "heroes" such as Givi, Alik Grek, Yuriy Maloy, Rinat, Misha Kosoy.
In 1994, a local branch of PrivatBank was opened in the town. According to inside sources, in the first years of its operation, it actively laundered money for Shcherban. However, what is particularly interesting is that it also "funded" the Donetsk police, in particular General Varaki. In 1995 the bank established a "Charitable Foundation for the Police" which for several years was run by General Varaki personally. The manager of the Donetsk branch of PrivatBank during those years, was Valentyna Arbuzov, mother of the current Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Arbuzov, a prominent member of 'The Family'.
[Investigators into money laundering in Donetsk have in the past frequently come to a sticky end. E.g. check out here and here ]
Chornovol suggests it is hardly likely Volodymyr Shcherban would have any reason for malevolence toward his distant family member Yevhen - they worked hand in glove as they rose to the top. But the ties described in her latest blog add more weight to the view that the Kushnir gang were totally 'set up' to take the rap for many of the high-profile murders that took place in the mid-nineties. [In the way Tymoshenko is now being set up?..F.N.]
p.s Over the years Volodymyr Shcherban's name has cropped up in my blogs on several occasions - not a nice man.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Will Yanukovych heed Van Rompuy and Barroso?
Monday's big-selling, pro-PoR 'Segodnya' newspaper article on president Yanukovych's trip to Brussels yesterday was entitled:
'Yanukovych only smiled once during the Ukraine-EU summit'
Here is a passage:
"..The President did not sign anything in Brussels, [but] private negotiations with EU leaders Herman Van Rompuy and Jose Manuel Barroso took place. They talked for over two hours instead of the planned 30 minutes ... [After this] the three of them entered the press centre without smiling. Van Rompuy almost immediately began to speak of the "Fule criteria" - 19 requirements that the European Commissioner for Integration brought to Kyiv two weeks ago.
And [with] the first of them the EU president mentioned the most uncomfortable question - "selective justice." Van Rompuy use this phrase at least five times, whilst mentioning progress in the implementation of Ukraine's European integration plan only once. "The EU wants to have a successful summit in Vilnius" (in November 2013, when is expected that the Association Agreement EU and Ukraine will be signed), - but made it clear that the success of the summit depends solely on Yanukovych.
Yanukovych facial expression during these speeches was expressionless...Yanukovych smiled only once, after a question from a Reuters correspondent..."
Today, 'Segodnya' is equally realistic in its reporting:
'Ukraine has been given a chance to catch the train...
Europe is changing its strategy and awaits a solution to the problems of Tymoshenko and Lutsenko...'
What did Rompuy and Barrosso tell Yanukovych in those two hours?
LEvko hazards a guess, and suggests the following:
"Listen Yanukovych, you have the chance to clinch a landmark deal with the EU - the biggest in your country's history. Your place in that history will be assured. Furthermore, a successful signing would greatly enhance the chances of what you crave most: a second term in office as president. We have not closed the door...the ball is in your court...
But if the deal falls through, you will be blamed for screwing up the best opportunity in a generation for your country to develop swiftly. Your chances of a second presidential term will be dented as a result. Furthermore, you will be considered to be a vindictive bully, who has put his own lust for revenge over political enemies ahead the future development of his country. You will not be welcome anywhere in western democracies...there may even be calls for sanctions against you, your associates and your family...
The opposition are disunited....Tymoshenko's moment in history has passed...Forget about her...let her go..."
But will Yanukovych take heed?
Your blogger doubts this.
During his formative years Yanukovych was immersed in a criminal environment...his deepest instincts tell him: Enemies have to be destroyed - never compromise with enemies; never, give a dangerous opponent, especially a younger, smarter one, a second chance to get back at you....you will regret it for ever....
The campaign to destroy Tymoshenko has been a priority for president Yanukovych since the day he came to power..I do not believe he will change...it would be an unacceptable mark of weakness...
Yanukovych could have had Lutsenko released last week...he did not.
Apparently the thin-skinned Yanukovych, [a characteristic of many bullies] hates Lutsenko calling him a 'zek'...[ prison inmate]. He hates the nasty and horrible Lutsenko saying disagreeable things about Yanukovych's son...
For Yanukovych it' easy....if you don't want sleepless nights, be an autocrat...
'Yanukovych only smiled once during the Ukraine-EU summit'
Here is a passage:
"..The President did not sign anything in Brussels, [but] private negotiations with EU leaders Herman Van Rompuy and Jose Manuel Barroso took place. They talked for over two hours instead of the planned 30 minutes ... [After this] the three of them entered the press centre without smiling. Van Rompuy almost immediately began to speak of the "Fule criteria" - 19 requirements that the European Commissioner for Integration brought to Kyiv two weeks ago.
And [with] the first of them the EU president mentioned the most uncomfortable question - "selective justice." Van Rompuy use this phrase at least five times, whilst mentioning progress in the implementation of Ukraine's European integration plan only once. "The EU wants to have a successful summit in Vilnius" (in November 2013, when is expected that the Association Agreement EU and Ukraine will be signed), - but made it clear that the success of the summit depends solely on Yanukovych.
Yanukovych facial expression during these speeches was expressionless...Yanukovych smiled only once, after a question from a Reuters correspondent..."
Today, 'Segodnya' is equally realistic in its reporting:
'Ukraine has been given a chance to catch the train...
Europe is changing its strategy and awaits a solution to the problems of Tymoshenko and Lutsenko...'
What did Rompuy and Barrosso tell Yanukovych in those two hours?
LEvko hazards a guess, and suggests the following:
"Listen Yanukovych, you have the chance to clinch a landmark deal with the EU - the biggest in your country's history. Your place in that history will be assured. Furthermore, a successful signing would greatly enhance the chances of what you crave most: a second term in office as president. We have not closed the door...the ball is in your court...
But if the deal falls through, you will be blamed for screwing up the best opportunity in a generation for your country to develop swiftly. Your chances of a second presidential term will be dented as a result. Furthermore, you will be considered to be a vindictive bully, who has put his own lust for revenge over political enemies ahead the future development of his country. You will not be welcome anywhere in western democracies...there may even be calls for sanctions against you, your associates and your family...
The opposition are disunited....Tymoshenko's moment in history has passed...Forget about her...let her go..."
But will Yanukovych take heed?
Your blogger doubts this.
During his formative years Yanukovych was immersed in a criminal environment...his deepest instincts tell him: Enemies have to be destroyed - never compromise with enemies; never, give a dangerous opponent, especially a younger, smarter one, a second chance to get back at you....you will regret it for ever....
The campaign to destroy Tymoshenko has been a priority for president Yanukovych since the day he came to power..I do not believe he will change...it would be an unacceptable mark of weakness...
Yanukovych could have had Lutsenko released last week...he did not.
Apparently the thin-skinned Yanukovych, [a characteristic of many bullies] hates Lutsenko calling him a 'zek'...[ prison inmate]. He hates the nasty and horrible Lutsenko saying disagreeable things about Yanukovych's son...
For Yanukovych it' easy....if you don't want sleepless nights, be an autocrat...
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Europeans will not be convinced Tymshenko is a murderer
I liked this comment from 'Black_Booker' at the end of a thoughtful article in 'Liga.net' which analyses the preliminary court hearings in the Shcherban murder case. [It is quite probable Yulia Tymoshenko will face criminal charges for commissioning the Donetsk politician's/businessman's killing, and could be sentenced to life imprisonment.]
"There is no sense in continuing to trample on Tymoshenko for 'domestic consumption' purposes: she is already in prison for seven years. The Ukrainian electorate has long since split into two camps: those who hate her, and those who worship her and will not be convinced by any of the prosecutors' fairytales.
Furthermore, these fairystories are so primitive and so clumsily cobbled together , that even a large proportion of those opposed to Tymoshenko do not believe them.
To trample on Tymoshenko as a show for the Europeans makes no sense either. The level of confidence in Ukraine's judiciary there is almost zero.
Deputy prosecutor Kuzmin's crazy show is not assessed by the Europeans in terms of our new Criminal Code, but rather from the point of view of their own best legal practice. It is scary to imagine what all this looks like in the eyes of Europeans. What an idiot you have to be to imagine that 27 parliaments in the 27 European Union countries will vote to integrate a country such as ours into the EU."
The Germans, who call most of the big shots in Europe, are amongst the most sceptical. More from Deutsche Welle, on this, in English, here. [Their photo of Tymoshenko in this article dwarfs that of PM Azarov..]
Friday, February 22, 2013
Opportunity blown already
Here is a brilliantly written analysis from Andeas Umland in his recent article in 'The National Interest' : "How Ukraine Might Blow Its Historic Opportunity"
In any walk of life for any deal to be successfully concluded both sides have to negotiate in good faith and be flexible on one another's major concerns. Yanukovych has stubbornly refused to budge one millimetre to meet the concerns of the EU. The opening of the Scherban murder case against Tymoshenko is the clearest evidence of this.
Leaders across Europe are already making plans on how to disentangle themselves from the EU-Ukraine association agreement mess with minimum loss of face...
p.s. Yanukovych's performance at a spectacularly over-the-top round table, under-lit 'floating space ship' stage set, complete with swooping camera-work, zooming and editing, and his responses to the planted sycophants in his televised 'Dialogue with the Nation' today resembled something emanating from North Korea or central Asia rather than anything similar seen in western European countries. It was numbingly cringe-making....'pokazukha'
[Click on image to enlarge..]
p.s. This from the Council of Europe:
Strasbourg, 21.02.2012 – Pieter Omtzigt (Netherlands, EPP/CD), who is preparing a report on “Keeping political and criminal responsibility separate” for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), has said that it is urgent to address the status of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and former Interior Minister Yuri Lutsenko as ‘political prisoners’ within the meaning of the definition adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly in October 2012.
Mr Omtzigt was speaking at the end of a three-day information visit to Ukraine (19-21 February 2013), during which he met Mr Lutsenko in prison.
“I should like to recall that the Assembly, in Resolution 1862 (2012), has already called on the President of Ukraine to consider all legal means available for him to release Ms Tymoshenko and Mr Lutsenko, and indicated that if these demands were not met it could consider possible sanctions,” said Mr Omtzigt.
“Meanwhile, the European Court of Human Rights has found that the arrest of Mr Lutsenko violated the European Convention on Human Rights on numerous counts, including a finding that there were other than legal motives for his arrest. This judgment, in my view, shows that law enforcement in Ukraine is unfair and urgently needs an overhaul,” he added.
“The democratic forces in Ukraine place their hopes in the principles upheld by the Council of Europe, and I will do my very best to ensure that we will not let them down,” concluded the rapporteur, indicating that he intended to present his final report as soon as possible.
Is Ukraine a country currently fit to be integrated in to European institutions?
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Cautious optimism? Self-delusion, or what?
The presidents of Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine met in Wisla, southern Poland, on Thursday to discuss the upcoming EU-Ukraine summit.
Some reports claim the first two managed to 'squeeze a "positive signal" from Yanukovych on the matter of Yulia Tymoshenko's incarceration.
Polish President Bronisław Komorowski, on his official website: "expressed his conviction and optimism regarding a series of gestures and decisions which President Yanukovic had envisaged, important from the point of view of rebuilding Ukraine's image in EU countries and linked with two names - Yulia Tymoshenko as well as Yuri Lutsenko."
Polish 'Newsweek''s assessment in an op-ed piece is far more stark.... and realistic. Here's a loose translation of one passage:
"Instead of releasing Tymoshenko, she is being threatened with life imprisonment in a fresh case against her.
The [mass] media are being ever-more controlled by the authorities.
The opposition is being threatened, this time, with early elections under new electoral law which would give Yanukovych's party a decisive majority in parliament.
Key issues, demands by Brussels for administrative and judicial reforms, have not even started. If Yanukovych were to meet the minimum required by the EU he would shake the foundations of the para-democracy constructed these last two years and destroy the power of the Party of Regions at an impressive rate. It's hard to expect this.
The system created by him is calculated for power - the [country's] administration and the economy, all to be monopolised by the ruling Party of Regions.
He's done nothing for two years, he won't do anything in two months. The game is no longer about an association agreement, but how to exit from several years of missed opportunities and the illusion of struggle between Brussels and Kyiv without losing face..."
Valeriy Portnikov writing in his op-ed piece in Liga.net on the same topic, says: "Ukrainian authoritarianism has already passed the point of no return, and those who are trying to change its trajectory are engaging in complacent self-delusion ['samouspokoyeniyem'] rather than real politics."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
p.s. Hennadiy Moskal, a seasoned opposition parliamentary deputy with a many years experience in the top eschelons of Ukraine's law enforcement agencies, provides some background info on Serhiy Zaitsev - the second witness to testify against Yulia Tymoshenko in pre-trial hearings last week.
Quoting reliable sources Moskal alleges that last year five criminal criminal cases were opened against Zaitsev in Ukraine. These included serious fraud, embezzlement, forgery etc..
In 1999 Zaitsev was detained by law enforcement agencies in Poland on suspicion of murder, but was later released for unknown reasons.
After Zaitsev had provided 'the stuff' that the prosecutors needed against Tymoshenko, a lot of the charges were dropped ...surprise surprise....
p.p.s. I wonder is Zaitsev's name cropped up in president Komorowski's tete-a-tete with Yanuk?
Yanukovych's response to EU's misgivings before EU-Ukraine summit
In their official report of today's meeting of Polish president Komorowski and president Yanukovych in the town of Wisla, the Polish president's official website reports:
...Polish president Bronislaw Komorowski said in a recent interview on the "Signals of the day" [radio programme] - "We will talk [and try] to convince our Ukrainian guest to to make a series of gestures that will confirm Ukraine's wish to get closer to the Western world and increase the chances of him signing the EU Association Agreement with Ukraine at the summit of leaders of the EU and the Eastern Partnership in November this year in Vilnius."
"We will [try to] convince him not only [to make] gestures, but also to really set into motion the announced reforms in the sphere of justice", said the president.
Everyone knows what Komorowski was talking about - he wants Yanukovych to made a gesture regarding the deeply troubling politically motivated persecution of leaders of the Ukrainian opposition.
And Yanukovych's response? - The novice judge Rodion Kiryeev, who sentenced Yulia Tymoshenko to 7 years imprisonment was today promoted to the position of acting deputy head of the Pechersk regional court.
This week former minister of the interior Yuriy Lutsenko could have been released from prison on grounds of ill health. He was not..My guess is that for Yanukovych any such gesture would have been construed as a sign of weakness..which is totally out of the question for a bully like him.
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p.s. Donetsk crocodile Volodymyr Shcherban. will be the next witness to be called to testify in the pre-trial hearings investigating the murder of Yevhen Shcherban. Yulia Tymoshenko is accused of commissioning this crime.
From July 1994 until October 1996 Volodymyr Shcherban was head of the Donesk oblast council. From July 1995 until July 1996 he was head of the Donetsk oblast state administration, or governor.
According to Forbes.ua, in recent testimony to law enforcement agencies, Volodymyr Shcherban alleges Tymoshenko may have been responsible for the death of Industrial Union of Donbas director, Alexandr Momot too.
However following Donetsk mafia capo Akhat Bragin's assassination in the Shakhtar stadium in October 1995, Volodymyr himself started having problems with Ukraine's law enforcement agencies. A commission from Kyiv arrived in Donetsk led by the-then prosecutor general of Ukraine, Hryhoriy Vorsynov. The commission's report was prepared by Vasyl Durdynets, the then vice-PM responsible for state security and emergencies. Durdynets blamed Shcherban [not unreasonably] of permitting organised crime to run riot in the oblast, and directly accused Shcherban of providing 'a roof' for this.
Forbes.ua make the obvious point that this casts a big shadow on any verbal evidence he may have presented to prosecutors in recent days..
Similarly Volodymyr Shcherban claims that in 2005 and 2006, after the Orange Revolution, when he was applying for political asylum in the USA, he told US officials that Tymoshenko and Lazarenko were involved in Momot's murder. However, by his own admission, Shcherban had had serious disagreements with the pair. Lazarenko was already under arrest...so he knew he could 'lay it on thick'. If anything, this would only help his claim for asylum, particularly in the light of Vasyl Durdynets's assertions...
p.p.s. Yevhen Shcherban was shot dead on the runway at Donetsk airport on 3rd November 1996
Akhat Bragin was blown up in the Shakhtar Stadium on October 15 1995, almost a year before Shcherban's death.
Oleskandr Shvedchenko, the president of the Ukrainian branch of Russian gas trader ITERA Energy who were also trying to gain a portion of the Ukrainian gas market, was shot dead in Kyiv on March 28 1996,
Aleksandr Momot, a co-founder of IUD, was shot dead on May 16 1996.
In July 1996, Pavlo Lazarenko survived an assassination attempt, less than two months after he was appointed PM.
Yulia Tymoshenko was born 27th November 1960. When Yevhen Shcherban was shot dead Tymoshenko had not yet celebrated her 36th birthday.
Is it really possible... that in the anarchic, massively male-dominated world of pitiless ex-Communist career politicians, factory bosses, underworld gangsters and hoodlums that dominated Ukraine in the mid nineties, such a young woman could have had a decisive voice on 'who was to live and who was to die?
...Polish president Bronislaw Komorowski said in a recent interview on the "Signals of the day" [radio programme] - "We will talk [and try] to convince our Ukrainian guest to to make a series of gestures that will confirm Ukraine's wish to get closer to the Western world and increase the chances of him signing the EU Association Agreement with Ukraine at the summit of leaders of the EU and the Eastern Partnership in November this year in Vilnius."
"We will [try to] convince him not only [to make] gestures, but also to really set into motion the announced reforms in the sphere of justice", said the president.
Everyone knows what Komorowski was talking about - he wants Yanukovych to made a gesture regarding the deeply troubling politically motivated persecution of leaders of the Ukrainian opposition.
And Yanukovych's response? - The novice judge Rodion Kiryeev, who sentenced Yulia Tymoshenko to 7 years imprisonment was today promoted to the position of acting deputy head of the Pechersk regional court.
This week former minister of the interior Yuriy Lutsenko could have been released from prison on grounds of ill health. He was not..My guess is that for Yanukovych any such gesture would have been construed as a sign of weakness..which is totally out of the question for a bully like him.
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p.s. Donetsk crocodile Volodymyr Shcherban. will be the next witness to be called to testify in the pre-trial hearings investigating the murder of Yevhen Shcherban. Yulia Tymoshenko is accused of commissioning this crime.
From July 1994 until October 1996 Volodymyr Shcherban was head of the Donesk oblast council. From July 1995 until July 1996 he was head of the Donetsk oblast state administration, or governor.
According to Forbes.ua, in recent testimony to law enforcement agencies, Volodymyr Shcherban alleges Tymoshenko may have been responsible for the death of Industrial Union of Donbas director, Alexandr Momot too.
However following Donetsk mafia capo Akhat Bragin's assassination in the Shakhtar stadium in October 1995, Volodymyr himself started having problems with Ukraine's law enforcement agencies. A commission from Kyiv arrived in Donetsk led by the-then prosecutor general of Ukraine, Hryhoriy Vorsynov. The commission's report was prepared by Vasyl Durdynets, the then vice-PM responsible for state security and emergencies. Durdynets blamed Shcherban [not unreasonably] of permitting organised crime to run riot in the oblast, and directly accused Shcherban of providing 'a roof' for this.
Forbes.ua make the obvious point that this casts a big shadow on any verbal evidence he may have presented to prosecutors in recent days..
Similarly Volodymyr Shcherban claims that in 2005 and 2006, after the Orange Revolution, when he was applying for political asylum in the USA, he told US officials that Tymoshenko and Lazarenko were involved in Momot's murder. However, by his own admission, Shcherban had had serious disagreements with the pair. Lazarenko was already under arrest...so he knew he could 'lay it on thick'. If anything, this would only help his claim for asylum, particularly in the light of Vasyl Durdynets's assertions...
p.p.s. Yevhen Shcherban was shot dead on the runway at Donetsk airport on 3rd November 1996
Akhat Bragin was blown up in the Shakhtar Stadium on October 15 1995, almost a year before Shcherban's death.
Oleskandr Shvedchenko, the president of the Ukrainian branch of Russian gas trader ITERA Energy who were also trying to gain a portion of the Ukrainian gas market, was shot dead in Kyiv on March 28 1996,
Aleksandr Momot, a co-founder of IUD, was shot dead on May 16 1996.
In July 1996, Pavlo Lazarenko survived an assassination attempt, less than two months after he was appointed PM.
Yulia Tymoshenko was born 27th November 1960. When Yevhen Shcherban was shot dead Tymoshenko had not yet celebrated her 36th birthday.
Is it really possible... that in the anarchic, massively male-dominated world of pitiless ex-Communist career politicians, factory bosses, underworld gangsters and hoodlums that dominated Ukraine in the mid nineties, such a young woman could have had a decisive voice on 'who was to live and who was to die?
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Tangled web of crime, politics, law enforcement, and business...
It seems that the hero of my previous blog, the boorish Ihor Maryinkov [see photo] who gave evidence against Yulia Tymoshenko earlier this week, has major 'previous form' as a professional witness. He was a prosecution witness in the high-profile murder trials of Yevhen Shcherban, Akhat Bragin, and Vadym Hetman, who were all allegedly killed by the notorious Kushnir gang.
Almost exactly seven years ago I posted a blog about the interwoven nexus of crime, law enforcement, business, and politics that lies embedded below the surface of today's Ukrainian elites.
Here is a portion from that blog:
On 22nd February 2006 an appeal court in Donetsk heard the preliminary statement of Vyacheslav Sinenko, a former police major who is accused of the attempted killing of Akhat Bragin and others by means of an explosive device.
Sinenko [who himself survived and assassination attempt when he was shot in the hip on 5th May 1998] claimed:
that he was framed for this crime by the former Donetsk Chief Prosecutor and former Prosecutor-General of Ukraine Gennadiy Vasilyev,
that the true organizers of Bragin's killing were associates of Akhmetov,
that he was persecuted after collecting and presenting evidence to Vasiliev,
that the crime's prime suspect was a man called Rukhmanov, who he had apprehended but who was then released on the orders of Vasiliev,
that his own death was "needed by Akhmetov because I held in my possession evidence against one of his 'warriors' Rukhmanov",
that when he was in hospital recovering from his assassination attempt he 'spilled the beans' to an investigative TV journalist Igor Aleksandrov, who was murdered in July 2001. [A homeless man accused of killing Aleksandrov himself died in suspicious circumstances.]
Sinenko escaped to Greece, but on 30th March 2004 was detained in Athens and extradited to Ukraine a year later.
At a further court hearing on 23rd February Sinenko gave more details of his defence. He says that at the time of his investigation into the Bragin killing he met V.S Malyshev, the former head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Donetsk.
Malyshev told him: "Where the hell are you going with this, you idiot..?"
Malyshev became chief of security at billionaire Akmetov's SystemCapitalManagement, and well-placed on the PR parliamentary election list at that time.
Similar details of the Sinenko trial were reported by the authoritative 'Kommersant' site.
Tetyana Chornovil, in her recent 'U.P.' blog reveals Ihor Maryinkov, whose demeanour would make a perfect extra in 'The Sopranos', was also the chief prosecution witness in the trial against the above-mentioned Vyacheslav Sinenko...
She describes how several years ago Maryinkov, [whose own evidence this week makes clear he was completely trusted by the Kushnir gang] was also in business with three other men, Yuriy Vandin, Mykola Shatkovsky, and Yuriy Zemlyansky. All three were in some way known to have significant connections with the killing of Yevhan Shcherban. Also, together with Maryinkov, they were the founders of the 'Ukraina-Kytay' investment-consultancy company.
The first of the three, Vandin was head of the Investigation of Organised Crime directorate at Ministry of Internal Affairs and was directly responsible for investigating Shcherban's murder. If Maryinkov was an inside man, they why did he not prevent any of the numerous high-profile murders conducted by the Kushnir gang? Why has he never spoken out against Tymoshenko before...even when she was imprisoned in early 2001 when president Kuchma was determined to eliminate her from politics?
'Ostrov' reports that Yuriy Vandin also led the investigation of the murder in Slovyansk in 2001 of television journalist Ihor Aleksandrov*. [Readers of my blog will be aware that Aleksandrov was allegedly investigating corrupt links between known criminals and top prosecutors....including....with the current P-G...Viktor Pshonka, when he was killed .] A certain Oleksandr Ribak, who had been sentenced for allegedly commissioning the Aleksandrov killing, escaped after being escorted by paramilitary guard 'Alpha' to the prosecutor's office.
The second of the three, Shatkovsky was, a year ago, appointed first deputy head of the SBU [Security Service of Ukraine] by Viktor Yanukovych himself, and held the position of deputy head of external intelligence of Ukraine.
As for Zemlyansky, the last of Maryinkov's partners in 'Ukraina-Kytay', between 1998 and 2004 he was first deputy head of the SBU, and according to a 2004 article in the authoritative 'Dzerkalo Tyzhnya', the high-ranking Zemlyansky was Yanukovych's main man in the SBU.
Tetyana Chornovil enumerates other companies Maryinkov set up with Vandin and other 'sylovyky'. Maryinkov remember, is the man who was arrested and imprisoned for transporting an arsenal of ammunition and weaponry in the late '90's. He is the man, by his own admission in court, had members of the Kushnir gang living in his expensive hotel rooms. The gang members openly revealed details of their crimes to him...
As a conclusion to her blog Chornovil asks:
Who actually was Mar'yinkov at the time of Shcherban's murder?
What role did the SBU and Ministry of Internal Affairs play in the numerous high-profile murders in Donetsk [in the '90's]? Is there any truth in the words of Major Sinenko, who claimed that Mar'yinkov took orders from Rinat Akhmetov?
And finally, what is the significance of the fact that the "sylovyky" business partners of Mar'yinkov [who, in essence provided shelter to the Kushnir gang], were also close to Yanukovych?
p.s. Below I paraphrase what Sergei Vysotsky, in his commentary on the Tymoshenko trial writes, in 'LigaBusinessInform' :
The backbone of Ukraine's modern political elite and oligarchy was formed by an alloy of the Communist nomenklatura and administrators who had experience of milking state assets, and organised gangsters. The former understood the mechanisms of management of property and how to appropriate it; the latter had the ability to protect what was stolen, and importantly - to guarantee compliance of the terms of the deals...
Many remember the shootings, the explosions, the blood.... Carnivorous packs tore and split the country apart. ..Shcherban was the leader of one of those packs..... Tymoshenko a high-ranking member of the other [portion of the country's political elite]...
By the end of the 90's, an unspoken agreement between the general public and these elite was formed because the people in power that had grabbed former state property by force, managed to set up certain rules of the game so ending the gangster lawlessness of the early 90's.
A mutually acceptable amnesia descended on the country, and the dangerous, lawless days of the early and mid-nineties were all but forgotten about by everyone....it became a taboo subject. Society gave the appearance of having forgiven the country's elite in exchange for something that resembled civilised life.
But now the accusations against Tymoshenko that she commissioned the murder of Yevhen Shcherban are bringing all of the bad times back. The country is stepping back 20 years. The sentencing of Tymoshenko for Shcherban's murder will be the key to Pandora's box...
*More on Aleksandrov murder here and here
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Another Shcherban murder trial witness is linked to Yanukovychs
Yesterday a pre-trial hearing took place in Kyiv during which Ihor Maryinkov, a rather nasty-looking witness [see photo], gave testimony. He accused Yulia Tymoshenko of involvement in the contract killing of Donetsk multimillionaire and member of parliament Yevhen Shcherban, back in 1996.
In her 'U.P.' blog investigative journalist Tetyana Chornovil reveals that Maryinkov, like Rulan Shcherban [see previous blog] also has links to the Yanukovych family.
From official sources, Chornovil discovered that in the mid 90's Maryinkov was the founder of the joint Ukraine-Russian enterprise "DonetskoOvoch", which was later renamed "UkrSpetsResurs". His business partner was a certain was Arkady Klein from Artemivsk.
Arkady Klein worked for 42 years at the Artyomivsk sparkling wine factory [the biggest of its kind in Eastern Europe] and at the end of the 90's became its director. At that time it was part of the "UkrInterProdukt" corporation whose owner was Party of Regions' MP Alexander Leshchynsky. Igor Alexandrov, director of the Slovyansk TV company Thor, who was beaten to death in 2001, called Leshchynsky "The vodka king of Donbas."
Around the same time Arkady Klein becomes an honorary citizen of the city of Artemivsk (just after the Soviet Union's Sinatra - Yosyp Kobzon had received this honour) and the factory directorship is handed over to a Roman Nikiforov. (Nikiforov mysteriously 'shot himself dead' with a rubber bullet immediately after the Orange Revolution [see this from F.N.]).
In 2000 Arkady Klein is appointed chairman of the supervisory board of the Artyomivsk Winery and holds this position until 2006.
In 2002 the Donetsk firm "Edelweiss" becomes a shareholder in the Artyomivsk Winery with a 15% stake. Structures close to Rinat Akhmetov and Boris Kolesnikov owned the remainder. Today 99.9% of the shares of this company belong to Viktor Yanukovych's son Oleksandr's "MAKO Holding".
"Edelweiss" was the main business structure of the Yanukovych's in 2002. Old family associate Edward Prutnik, the-then manager of 'The Family's' businesses, was it's front man. Prutnik later sold his share of "Edelweiss", so now Oleksandr Yanukovych is the sole owner of "Edelweiss."
Thus it appears that Arkady Klein, business partner of today's witness in the Shcherban murder case, for several years helped develop the champagne sector of Yanukovych's elder son's businesses.
It turns out that now that both main prosecution witnesses have links with Yanukovych family's businesses.
Ruslan Shcherban hunts with Yanukovych's business partners [and occasionally shoots them ;-) ] He also goes hunting with Oleksandr Yanukovych himself.
Ihor Maryinkov had a joint business with a man who occupied a high position in a company owned by Oleksandr Yanukovych, Rinat Akhmetov, and former cabinet minister Boris Kolesnikov.
Maryinkov can be considered to be a habitual, professional witness. He testified in the highest profile murder trials ever held in Ukraine - those of Yevhen Scherban, Shakhtar Donetsk boss and alleged mafia capo Akhat Bragin, and National Bank of Ukraine chairman, Vadym Hetman.
In those trials he gave all necessary evidence in favour of the prosecution against crime boss Yevhen Kushnir, who organised there killings, and Kushir's ties to Pavlo Lazarenko. But he never ever uttered a single word about Yulia Tymoshenko's involvement in these murders...until now.
Maryinkov started to give evidence [and 'sing' like a canary] after he was arrested on May 30, 1998, together with a Yuriy Serdyuk, when driving into Poltava.
An arsenal of weapons were found in the trunk of his Mercedes - a Kalashnikov automatic rifle, several grenade launchers, and a large quantity of ammunition. He was sentenced to a laughable one year of imprisonment.
Serdyuk testified in all the above-mentioned high-profile trials together with Ihor Maryinkov.
In their evidence, Serdyuk and Maryinkov recalled their trusting friendships with members of the murderous Kushnir gang. They were so close that Kushnir and his side-kick Anatoliy Ryabin spoke openly to them about their plans to murder a whole list of top people in the Donbas region, in other words Serdyuk and Maryinkov were both loyal gang members.
So the businessman Maryinkov, with his highly criminal background was also close to Arkady Klein, who for many years was in charge of production at the Artyomivsk Winery, owned by Akhmetov, Kolesnikov and Yanukovych's eldest son.
Ryabin was killed in 1966. Kushnir died in highly suspicious circumstances while he was detained in an investigative isolation unit in Donetsk in May 1998.
p.s. With friends and associates like these is it any wonder the Yanukovych's are constantly surrounded by swarms of bodyguards....it's not their enemies they are worried about...
A final thought - over that last few years, after the disillusionment of the Oranges, many in Ukraine have been prepared to overlook, and perhaps forgive the undeniable criminal background of today's 'Donteski'. Any trial of those who allegedly commissioned Yevhen Shcherban's murder will inevitably again shine a spotlight on the dark events of the mid nineties in that region...to the detriment of the 'Donetski'? As for observers from Europe and elsewhere...hmm....Yanuk must really, really fear Tymoshenko...
In her 'U.P.' blog investigative journalist Tetyana Chornovil reveals that Maryinkov, like Rulan Shcherban [see previous blog] also has links to the Yanukovych family.
From official sources, Chornovil discovered that in the mid 90's Maryinkov was the founder of the joint Ukraine-Russian enterprise "DonetskoOvoch", which was later renamed "UkrSpetsResurs". His business partner was a certain was Arkady Klein from Artemivsk.
Arkady Klein worked for 42 years at the Artyomivsk sparkling wine factory [the biggest of its kind in Eastern Europe] and at the end of the 90's became its director. At that time it was part of the "UkrInterProdukt" corporation whose owner was Party of Regions' MP Alexander Leshchynsky. Igor Alexandrov, director of the Slovyansk TV company Thor, who was beaten to death in 2001, called Leshchynsky "The vodka king of Donbas."
Around the same time Arkady Klein becomes an honorary citizen of the city of Artemivsk (just after the Soviet Union's Sinatra - Yosyp Kobzon had received this honour) and the factory directorship is handed over to a Roman Nikiforov. (Nikiforov mysteriously 'shot himself dead' with a rubber bullet immediately after the Orange Revolution [see this from F.N.]).
In 2000 Arkady Klein is appointed chairman of the supervisory board of the Artyomivsk Winery and holds this position until 2006.
In 2002 the Donetsk firm "Edelweiss" becomes a shareholder in the Artyomivsk Winery with a 15% stake. Structures close to Rinat Akhmetov and Boris Kolesnikov owned the remainder. Today 99.9% of the shares of this company belong to Viktor Yanukovych's son Oleksandr's "MAKO Holding".
"Edelweiss" was the main business structure of the Yanukovych's in 2002. Old family associate Edward Prutnik, the-then manager of 'The Family's' businesses, was it's front man. Prutnik later sold his share of "Edelweiss", so now Oleksandr Yanukovych is the sole owner of "Edelweiss."
Thus it appears that Arkady Klein, business partner of today's witness in the Shcherban murder case, for several years helped develop the champagne sector of Yanukovych's elder son's businesses.
It turns out that now that both main prosecution witnesses have links with Yanukovych family's businesses.
Ruslan Shcherban hunts with Yanukovych's business partners [and occasionally shoots them ;-) ] He also goes hunting with Oleksandr Yanukovych himself.
Ihor Maryinkov had a joint business with a man who occupied a high position in a company owned by Oleksandr Yanukovych, Rinat Akhmetov, and former cabinet minister Boris Kolesnikov.
Maryinkov can be considered to be a habitual, professional witness. He testified in the highest profile murder trials ever held in Ukraine - those of Yevhen Scherban, Shakhtar Donetsk boss and alleged mafia capo Akhat Bragin, and National Bank of Ukraine chairman, Vadym Hetman.
In those trials he gave all necessary evidence in favour of the prosecution against crime boss Yevhen Kushnir, who organised there killings, and Kushir's ties to Pavlo Lazarenko. But he never ever uttered a single word about Yulia Tymoshenko's involvement in these murders...until now.
Maryinkov started to give evidence [and 'sing' like a canary] after he was arrested on May 30, 1998, together with a Yuriy Serdyuk, when driving into Poltava.
An arsenal of weapons were found in the trunk of his Mercedes - a Kalashnikov automatic rifle, several grenade launchers, and a large quantity of ammunition. He was sentenced to a laughable one year of imprisonment.
Serdyuk testified in all the above-mentioned high-profile trials together with Ihor Maryinkov.
In their evidence, Serdyuk and Maryinkov recalled their trusting friendships with members of the murderous Kushnir gang. They were so close that Kushnir and his side-kick Anatoliy Ryabin spoke openly to them about their plans to murder a whole list of top people in the Donbas region, in other words Serdyuk and Maryinkov were both loyal gang members.
So the businessman Maryinkov, with his highly criminal background was also close to Arkady Klein, who for many years was in charge of production at the Artyomivsk Winery, owned by Akhmetov, Kolesnikov and Yanukovych's eldest son.
Ryabin was killed in 1966. Kushnir died in highly suspicious circumstances while he was detained in an investigative isolation unit in Donetsk in May 1998.
p.s. With friends and associates like these is it any wonder the Yanukovych's are constantly surrounded by swarms of bodyguards....it's not their enemies they are worried about...
A final thought - over that last few years, after the disillusionment of the Oranges, many in Ukraine have been prepared to overlook, and perhaps forgive the undeniable criminal background of today's 'Donteski'. Any trial of those who allegedly commissioned Yevhen Shcherban's murder will inevitably again shine a spotlight on the dark events of the mid nineties in that region...to the detriment of the 'Donetski'? As for observers from Europe and elsewhere...hmm....Yanuk must really, really fear Tymoshenko...
Main prosecution witness in Shcherban case is friend of Yanukovych’s son
Yulia Tymoshenko was recently officially notified that she is a suspect in the murder of prominent Donetsk businessman and politician, Yevhen Shcherban. He and his wife had been assassinated by a band of killers at the city's airport in November 1996 as they were alighting from their aircraft.
Last April Yevhen's son, Ruslan, during a hesitant and rather embarrassing press conference, for the first time since his father's slaying publicly accused Tymoshenko of involvement in the assassination of his parents.
Well founded allegations were immediately made that Ruslan Shcherban was blackmailed to make such allegations by prosecutors after a hunting accident last February during which a friend of his, Rodion Drozdov, was shot dead.
Today Tetyana Chornovil in a good piece of investigative journalism on this topic reveals that Ruslan Shcherban, who may turn out to be the main prosecution witness in any murder trial, is a good friend of president Yanukovych’s elder son, Oleksandr Yanukovych.
Yanukovych jr. whose name now appears in the top 100 wealthiest Ukrainians lists, is also a business partner of Ruslan Shcherban and was a frequent visitor to the hunting lodge where Drozdov was shot dead almost exactly a year ago.
Drozdov had come to visit Scherban with a certain Serhiy Bogdanov. Bogdanov and Drozdov were business partners and ran the Donetsk-registered 'Metugletreyd 2008' commercial and industrial enterprise which extracts and enriches coal products.
Bogdanov is also the director of a financial and industrial company 'Kapital' - 100% of which is owned by Ruslan Shcherban.
But the most interesting thing is that in 2008 Bogdanov founded a company called 'Donsnabtara'. This was the first public company owned by Yanukovych's eldest son. In that year the current stars of political and economic life of the country were assembled under its roof.
In particular, Valentina Arbuzova, the mother of the current Deputy Prime Minister and former head of the National Bank of Ukraine, Serhiy Arbuzov was in charge of this company. Oleksandr Yanukovych was the main shareholder of the company with a personal stake of 75 million hryven.
So it seems then that a partner of Oleksandr Yanukovych was shot by a gun owned by Ruslan Shcherban. [Because there were so few witnesses to the crime it may even be that Shcherban himself fired the fatal shot.]
Ruslan Shcherban and Oleksandr Yanukovych were close in business matters too. It is possible that Bogdanov represented the interests of Ruslan Shcherban in 'Donsnabtara', the article says.
In addition, the younger Shcherban and Yanukovych have a common passion - banking. Chornovil found some interesting information in a register of court rulings from May 2009 about a money laundering case in which Yanukovych's 'UkrBusinessBank'. and Ruslan Shcherban's 'AKB Kapital' commercial bank were allegedly involved.
Residents of Mayatske forest, where Drozdov was shot, have told Chornovil that Oleksandr Yanukovych occasionally hunted there together with Ruslan Shcherban.
"He has not been here for a while, though," said one local forester. "Last time he came was six months ago."
Yulia Tymoshenko has declared that prosecutors have fabricated the case against her at the personal request of her greatest enemy, president Yanukovych.... and then it turns out that the main prosecution witness is a friend of the son of the man who is most interested in Tymoshenko being sentenced to life imprisonment.
In what looks could be a cover-up, last September a certain O.G. Novikov, who according to some reports is Shcherban jr.'s chauffeur, was sentenced to four years imprisonment for the involuntary manslaughter of Drozdov [caused by carelessness], and immediately unconditionally released.
Chornovil's article also provides details of the Novikov trial culled from court records and official public sources, and highlights serious omissions therein.
Being close to 'The Family' helps to resolve problems in any criminal case, says Chornovil, citing the example of another of Viktor Yanukovych's friends - head of Ukraine's highways agency, 'UkrAvtoDor', Volodymyr Demishkan.
Two years ago, a court released Demishkan's son Serhiy enabling him to avoid serving a prison sentence for murder. [See F.N. blog]
Demishkan earned the release of his son by handing over a Crimean 'UkrAvtoDor' health sanatorium to 'The Family,"
p.s. In the court's report of the Novikov trial, Shcherban jr.'s, and other participants' identities are concealed - they are referred to by a number only. However, from the report details it is very easy to determine with high degree of certainty who stands behind these numbers.
Why should the identity of any participant in this homicide trial be concealed? This merely provides more evidence of the dreadfully subservient state of Ukraine's judiciary and law enforcement agencies, and the power Ukraine's current rulers have over them? [LEvko]
[Blog also based on info from Censor.net]
Last April Yevhen's son, Ruslan, during a hesitant and rather embarrassing press conference, for the first time since his father's slaying publicly accused Tymoshenko of involvement in the assassination of his parents.
Well founded allegations were immediately made that Ruslan Shcherban was blackmailed to make such allegations by prosecutors after a hunting accident last February during which a friend of his, Rodion Drozdov, was shot dead.
Today Tetyana Chornovil in a good piece of investigative journalism on this topic reveals that Ruslan Shcherban, who may turn out to be the main prosecution witness in any murder trial, is a good friend of president Yanukovych’s elder son, Oleksandr Yanukovych.
Yanukovych jr. whose name now appears in the top 100 wealthiest Ukrainians lists, is also a business partner of Ruslan Shcherban and was a frequent visitor to the hunting lodge where Drozdov was shot dead almost exactly a year ago.
Drozdov had come to visit Scherban with a certain Serhiy Bogdanov. Bogdanov and Drozdov were business partners and ran the Donetsk-registered 'Metugletreyd 2008' commercial and industrial enterprise which extracts and enriches coal products.
Bogdanov is also the director of a financial and industrial company 'Kapital' - 100% of which is owned by Ruslan Shcherban.
But the most interesting thing is that in 2008 Bogdanov founded a company called 'Donsnabtara'. This was the first public company owned by Yanukovych's eldest son. In that year the current stars of political and economic life of the country were assembled under its roof.
In particular, Valentina Arbuzova, the mother of the current Deputy Prime Minister and former head of the National Bank of Ukraine, Serhiy Arbuzov was in charge of this company. Oleksandr Yanukovych was the main shareholder of the company with a personal stake of 75 million hryven.
So it seems then that a partner of Oleksandr Yanukovych was shot by a gun owned by Ruslan Shcherban. [Because there were so few witnesses to the crime it may even be that Shcherban himself fired the fatal shot.]
Ruslan Shcherban and Oleksandr Yanukovych were close in business matters too. It is possible that Bogdanov represented the interests of Ruslan Shcherban in 'Donsnabtara', the article says.
In addition, the younger Shcherban and Yanukovych have a common passion - banking. Chornovil found some interesting information in a register of court rulings from May 2009 about a money laundering case in which Yanukovych's 'UkrBusinessBank'. and Ruslan Shcherban's 'AKB Kapital' commercial bank were allegedly involved.
Residents of Mayatske forest, where Drozdov was shot, have told Chornovil that Oleksandr Yanukovych occasionally hunted there together with Ruslan Shcherban.
"He has not been here for a while, though," said one local forester. "Last time he came was six months ago."
Yulia Tymoshenko has declared that prosecutors have fabricated the case against her at the personal request of her greatest enemy, president Yanukovych.... and then it turns out that the main prosecution witness is a friend of the son of the man who is most interested in Tymoshenko being sentenced to life imprisonment.
In what looks could be a cover-up, last September a certain O.G. Novikov, who according to some reports is Shcherban jr.'s chauffeur, was sentenced to four years imprisonment for the involuntary manslaughter of Drozdov [caused by carelessness], and immediately unconditionally released.
Chornovil's article also provides details of the Novikov trial culled from court records and official public sources, and highlights serious omissions therein.
Being close to 'The Family' helps to resolve problems in any criminal case, says Chornovil, citing the example of another of Viktor Yanukovych's friends - head of Ukraine's highways agency, 'UkrAvtoDor', Volodymyr Demishkan.
Two years ago, a court released Demishkan's son Serhiy enabling him to avoid serving a prison sentence for murder. [See F.N. blog]
Demishkan earned the release of his son by handing over a Crimean 'UkrAvtoDor' health sanatorium to 'The Family,"
p.s. In the court's report of the Novikov trial, Shcherban jr.'s, and other participants' identities are concealed - they are referred to by a number only. However, from the report details it is very easy to determine with high degree of certainty who stands behind these numbers.
Why should the identity of any participant in this homicide trial be concealed? This merely provides more evidence of the dreadfully subservient state of Ukraine's judiciary and law enforcement agencies, and the power Ukraine's current rulers have over them? [LEvko]
[Blog also based on info from Censor.net]
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