Most Attractive Not to be Privatized?

The government suggests that 15 especially privatization- attractive enterprises be privatized in 2000. As Oleksandr Riabchenko, chairman of the privatization control commission, told UNIAN, “whoever handed over to Parliament a list of privatization-attractive enterprises does not want to gain the result but only wants to declare his pretty political position.” As Mr. Riabchenko stressed, “When privatization becomes a plan for gaining money, it creates trouble. All resolutions feature attractive facilities to be sold and bring along large-scale investments in the development of enterprises, but when it comes to signing an instruction to place a block of shares from this list on tender, at this moment the block of shares and the enterprise itself disappear.” Thus in his opinion the best Ukrainian enterprises fail to be offered for privatization. He thinks that “financial, clan- and group-related interests are being placed today higher than those of the state.” If the government is submitting this list to Parliament, this means it either does not know the situation, for Parliament will never vote its approval or is trying to see to it that the list be turned down.