In an ongoing pre-trial investigation in Kyiv against former Prime Mnsiter Yulia Tymoshenko, the prosecutors have rolled out two witnesses who point at her for the 1996 murder of businessman and lawmaker Yevhen Shcherban.
On
Feb. 15, the second
witness testifies against Tymoshenko, saying that she and former
Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko
ordered the murder of Shcherban because of
a business conflict. The
witness confessed, however, that he
has never met Tymoshenko personaly and his knowledge is based on his
conversations with Tymoshenko’s
rival.
Prosecutors
informed Tymoshenko last month that she is one of the suspects in
ordering the murder. The pre-trial court investigation started in
Kyiv on Feb.13.
Tymosheko
has so far refused to take part in the pre-trial investigation, which
is her right under the new Criminal Procedural Code. Tymosheko
remains in a Kharkiv hospital, where she is treated for a painful
back condition.
She
is already serving seven years in jail for overstepping her authority
as a prime minister while signing a gas contract with Russia in 2009,
a charge that many consider political.
The
questioned witness Serhiy
Zaitsev is a businessman from Dnipropetrovsk who is married to the
sister of the wife of Petro Kyrychenko, a close assosiate of former
prime minister Lazarenko.
Zaitsev
said
he knew from
Kirichenko that Shcherban was killed to
order,
by professional hit
men
who arranged “a show like in Hollywood movies”.
Zaitsev
also says that prior to the murder there was an intense business
conflict between the so called “Dnipropetrovsk group” of
Lazarenko and Tymoshenko and the “Donetsk group: of Shcherban.
According
to Zaitsev, Lazarenko disrupted
the activity of
Shcherban’s
Aton firm and the construction of his factory in Dnipropetrovs
oblast. Zaitsev also says that Kirichenko
introduced Lazarenko to Oleksandr
Milchenko,
a criminal boss from
Dnipropetrovsk.
“From Kirichenko’s words I
understood that he (Milchenko) helped Lazarenko and Tymoshenko in
solving some problems with people from
Donetsk, I guess Shcherban,” Zaitsev said. “Later
Tymoshenko paid Milchenko three,
Kyrychenko told me. I assume he meant 3 million dollars. I did not
pay much attention to what he was saying about it then,
I guess the money were regarding solving that problem, with
Shcherban,” Zaitsev said. The conversation with Kirichenko Zaitsev refers to took place on Nov. 30, 1998 when he and Kirichenko were “considerably drunk”.
At
the same time Kirichenko
disliked Tymoshenko because
he was
jealous of her being closer to Lazarenko then he had
been,
Zaitsev claims.
According to Zaitsev, Tymoshenko and Lazarenko had an intimate affair
and Lazarenko was securing profitable business deals for her
companies.
“Kirichenko
also once told me that he and Milchenko once ordered a delivery of
cake to Tymoshenko’s
office with the note saying
‘hello
from Donetsk. Next time it will not be a cake.’
I don’t
know
why they did it,” Zaitsev told
the judge.
“I
am not saying Tymoshenko is guilty… I am just saying what I have
heard from Kirichenko,” Zaitsev said.
Aside from being a witness in Shcherban case, Zaitsev is also a witness in another criminal case, on the murder of businessman Oleksandr Yesukov. That case is pending since 2003 which the defense says can put pressure on Zaitsev from the prosecutors.
Vlasenko also asked Zaitsev how did he get to court on Feb. 15. Zaitsev said that Stepan Bozhylov, general prosecutor’s investigator gave him a ride from the hotel. At the same time Zaitsev denied any pressure from the prosecutors.
Kyiv Post staff writer Svitlana Tuchynska can be reached at [email protected]
