Sviatoslav PISKUN: Trying to Bring Back $100 Million from Antigua

“It is crystal clear that the murder of Heorhy Gongadze served the interests of those who had tapes with the recorded conversations of the President,” Ukraine’s Prosecutor-General Sviatoslav Piskun told journalists on October 2. Yet, in his words, “none of the versions have been dropped in the Gongadze case — they are all being verified.” Interfax-Ukraine quotes the Prosecutor General as emphasizing that the murder was prepared and committed by professionals, while “the murderers themselves are no longer living.” “The murder mechanism worked as expected: first went those who had done the actual killing and then those who had hired them. Our goal is to spot flaws in this mechanism,” Mr. Piskun said.

According to the Prosecutor General, the mistakes made during the investigation “were not linked to any strategy of the state or its leadership.” “They were caused by the carelessness and negligence of rank-and-file officers: by force of their muddleheadedness and low skills, they failed to rise to the occasion and were therefore brought to justice,” he said.

Mr. Piskun also revealed to the media his immediate plans to visit the US in connection with the ex-premier Pavlo Lazarenko affair and the tapes recorded by security ex-Major Mykola Melnychenko. In his words, he is going to have discussions with prosecutors and at the FBI. “We will be discussing the Lazarenko- Tymoshenko affair. This case must be finally put an end to,” the Prosecutor General said. He said he was also going to visit Antigua as part of his mission. “They keep about $100 million of Lazarenko’s money, and I will be pressing them to return the money to Ukraine,” Mr. Piskun stressed. In his words, he will sign an intergovernmental agreement in Antigua on the return to Ukraine of the money frozen on Mr. Lazarenko’s accounts.

The Prosecutor-General’s Office of Ukraine is also going to request Verkhovna Rada again in the nearest future to agree to have People’s Deputy Yuliya Tymoshenko brought to criminal justice. According to Mr. Piskun, if parliament agrees to have Ms. Tymoshenko brought to criminal justice, the Prosecutor General’s Office will refer all the related materials to court within 2 months.

The Prosecutor General’s Office has instituted criminal proceedings against People’s Deputy Oleksandr Turchynov (Y. Tymoshenko’s bloc) for obstructing the actions of the law enforcement bodies. An assistant of Mr. Turchynov was detained during a “pre- planned court-approved procedural action” connected with the investigation of a certain criminal case. According to Mr. Piskun, it was the question of “hundreds of thousands of illegally converted US dollars he was carrying into the Fatherland party office.” The detention and the actions of tax police officers were being recorded by several video cameras. “The cassette shows Mr. Turchynov jumping onto the automobile and pounding the glass with his fists, demanding that his assistant be released,” the Prosecutor General said.

He also announced that had not been selling or supplying the Kolchuha radar to Iraq. “The people who could have done so signed an affidavit that they did not do this,” he said. Mr. Piskun also said Ethiopia had officially confirmed that the Ukraine-supplied Kolchuha systems still remained in that country.