Exiles were in top positions under ex-President Leonid Kuchma, whose corrupt and authoritarian rule lasted from 1994-2005.
Several top officials who spent the last few years in exile in Russia running from criminal investigations in Ukraine are now packing their suitcases to return home. Their stories follow a similar pattern.
They were in top positions under ex-President Leonid Kuchma, whose corrupt and authoritarian rule lasted from 1994-2005.
After the democratic Orange Revolution in 2004, Ukraine’s prosecutors opened various criminal cases against them. All of them fled to Russia and could not be extradited to Ukraine for questioning because they reputedly hold Russian citizenships.
Igor Bakai
Mykola Bilokon
Ruslan Bodelan
Now their cases are closed. And they are fulfilling Kuchma’s post-election prediction that “my team, my people” would return: “We are now back to square one. I am satisfied that it’s all coming back.” The ex-president, who supported Viktor Yanukovych during the election campaign, made the remark on Feb. 8, the day after the run-off presidential vote.
Yuriy Boichenko, a spokesman for the general prosecutor, had no answer when asked on April 22 if there are arrest warrants outstanding for any of Kuchma’s trusted allies, or whether prosecutors would re-open old investigations into the criminal activities the men are suspected of.
“It’s up to the individual prosecutors handling these cases to make the determination whether to open or close criminal cases involving these men,” Boichenko said. “The job of the state prosecutor’s office is to determine whether the decision to press charges or withdraw them is made properly.”
Kyiv’s Appeals Court on April 20 upheld a lower court ruling throwing out charges against Igor Bakai, who fled to Moscow in December 2004. Bakai, who in 2003 was appointed head of the State Management of Affairs Department, an institution that manages properties on behalf of the president and cabinet, fled to Russia in December 2004. He was subsequently charged with illegally privatizing state-owned stakes in the Dnipro Hotel, Ukraina Hotel and the Ukraina exhibition complex in Kyiv.
Ruslan Bodelan, Odessa mayor from 1998 to 2005, also announced plans to return to Ukraine after law enforcement authorities dropped charges for abuse of office. Bodelan was charged in 2005 with abuse of office and put on the international wanted list. He fled to Russia and received Russian citizenship a year later. The ex-mayor made a flying visit to Odesa on April 9.
Former Interior Minister Mykola Bilokon and former deputy head of the State Secret Service, Volodymyr Satsyuk, are reportedly also planning a comeback. While not formally charged with any criminal offense, Bilokon is believed to have tried using force against protesters during the Orange Revolution. He fled to Russia at the end of 2004.
Satsyuk hosted the infamous dinner in the fall of 2004 where then-presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko says he was poisoned. The prosecutor’s offices later opened criminal cases against Satsyuk for abuse of office and forgery. Investigators also want to question him in connection with Yushchenko’s poisoning.
Last month criminal charges were also dropped against Vasyl Tsushko, who attempted to take over the general prosecutor’s office in 2007 while serving as interior minister. He was appointed economy minister just days after his case was closed.
Kyiv Post staff writer Peter Byrne can be reached at [email protected].
