Laundered Money Returning to Ukraine

AP reports that Verkhovna Rada Speaker Ivan Pliushch commended the expansion of cooperation with the Swiss Confederation in the sphere of law enforcement on the withdrawal of illegally acquired money from the Swiss bank accounts of Ukrainian citizens. At a meeting with Swiss Foreign Minister Joseph Deiss on October 30 the speaker reported on the Presidential Decree on Legalization of Shadow Capital enacted in Ukraine and on Verkhovna Rada drafting a corresponding bill. In turn Deiss spoke about the law on International Assistance in Criminal Cases acting in Switzerland, which can be administered to legally assist Ukraine. The Minister also noted that a new law on money laundering had been enacted in Switzerland. In 1995 Ukraine filed thirteen appeals for legal assistance. In 1999 such appeals numbered 27 and 24 have been recorded this year, Mr. Deiss announced. In his opinion, the greatest repercussions have been caused by the case of Ukraine’s former Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko. The minister recalled that on October 6 a Swiss court in Geneva ruled that Lazarenko’s accounts return SFr 10.5 million to Ukraine, which Switzerland has accordingly done.