WHAT HAS THE PRESIDENT DONE FOR HIMSELF AND HIS FAMILY?

In Ukraine, it should be noted, "family business" traditions (based on the concept of not caring one way or the other about anything except whether things are good or bad for one's family) have always been strong. It suffices to remind oneself of the Franchuks in the Crimea, an extraordinary family where, instead of the customary parents-children differences, both cooperate splendidly, adding to the family purse. Or one other family in Dnipropetrovsk, maybe not as friendly but as self-sufficient, which has bestowed Ukraine with such glorious sons as the President, Premier, and ex-Premier.

The President's suggestions had long been forestalled by Pavlo Lazarenko. In the course of the "family scandal" Valery Pustovoitenko mentioned the now legendary notebook of his predecessor, in which the column titled "For the Family" was, allegedly, far more capacious than the one titled "For the State." Add here the "state-owned dacha," allegedly leased by Lazarenko's family business from Prime Minister Lazarenko.

According to the law of Ukraine On the Taxation System, any private business is levied 24 national and 17 local taxes, whereby the state pockets between 60% and 93% of the revenues. This and variegated corruption (racket and government alike) demanding about as much, any legitimate private business becomes nonsensical. No laws provide for "family business" status and no mention is made of any preferential terms here. Surviving in business under the circumstances would take a Ukrainian Don Corleone. Or the Dnipropetrovsk dynasty.

Photo by Valery Myloserdov, The Day:
Ihor and Anatoly Franchuk: family business or family politics?

Photo by Leonid Bakka, The Day:
Interesting whether Valery Pustovoitenko has a notebook like his predecessor's