Billionaire Viktor Pinchuk accused Dnipropetrovsk governor Igor Kolomoisky and his business partner Henadiy Bogolyubov of attempts to smear his family ahead of a important court hearing in London due to start next year.
Pinchuk said that recent accusations against his father-in-law, former President Leonid Kuchma, of giving a $1 billion bribe to prosecutors to drop murder charges, are a part of a blackmailing campaign. Kolomoisky’s representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Kuchma, an autocratic president who ran the country in 1994-2004, had been accused of ordering the murder of journalist Georgiy Gonzadge on Sept. 16, 2000. Kuchma as always denied the charges.
On Dec. 18 Renat Kuzmin, Ukraine’s former top deputy prosecutor general who fled Ukraine after win of EuroMaidan Revolution, spoke via Skype at the TV show, claiming that back to 2013 a bribe of $1 billion was paid to close criminal case against Kuchma. The show was screened at 1+1 TV channel, owned by Kolomoisky.
On Dec. 23 Pinchuk released an open letter, saying that the campaign against Kuchma was masterminded by Kolomoisky and Boholyubov to pressure at him and make him call off his lawsuit in London against these individuals.
“Since these lawsuits have been filed, Kolomoisky and Boholyubov started threatening me by campaign against my family,”Pinchuk said. “Last week this blackmail took an open form.”
In March 2013 Pinchuk filed a lawsuit in London High Court against co-owners of Privat business group Kolomoisky and Boholyubov, demanding to give him back the shares of Kryvy Rih Iron Ore Combine worth some $1.5 billion or pay the money equivalent of them. Pinchuk accused the defenders of failing to fulfill contracts.
“I’m shocked by cynicism of Kolomoisky and Boholyubov who degraded to solve the business conflict with such vicious means,”Pinchuk said in his letter.
He added that back to 2011 former president Viktor Yanukovych also tried to pressure him through Kuchma when he was trying to receive control over the TV channels owned by Pinchuk.
He also claimed that Yanukovych wanted to revenge Kuchma for refusing to use force against peaceful participants of Orange Revolution in 2004, which prevented Yanukovych from taking presidency by cheating in an election.
“But the blackmail didn’t work in 2011 and it won’t work now. The lawsuits will not be called back,” Pinchuk said.
In the meantime, the Gongadze case might go to courts again. Four former police officers are now serving their terms for Gongadze murder, including former police general Oleksiy Pukach, who received a life term in. The contractors of the killing were never found.
In November, judges took a decision to hear Pukach’s appeal on his verdict at a closed trial, a decision that infuriated the public. Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on Dec. 21 that the Pukach trial should be public, claiming at his Facebook page it would be “immoral” to hold these hearing behind closed doors.
Pinchuk claimed in his letter that he and his family also support an open trial “if it will be really transparent and will include public interrogation of the real authors of the tragedy.”
Kuchma, who retired from politics after his presidency, is now Ukraine’s envoy in peace negotiation group that also includes representatives of Russia, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and self-proclaimed separatist republic formed in Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts. The group negotiated a peace deal on Sept. 5 in Minsk, which did not hold.
Kyiv Post staff writer Oksana Grytsenko can be reached at [email protected]
