Isabella Kirichenko (Kiritchenko), the wife of a former business partner of disgraced ex-Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko, was detained on Sept. 2 in Kyiv for questioning over the attempted sale of real estate belonging to her husband, Petro.
The Ukraine-born U.S. citizen was approached around lunchtime in a restaurant by Ukrainian law enforcement, who invited her and her nephew, a Ukrainian citizen, for questioning as witnesses in a fraud case. She was then designated a suspect and detained, the Kyiv Post learned from two informed sources.
According to the sources, she is accused of fraud and forgery of documents. In her fifties, Isabella Kirichenko has lived in the U.S. as a citizen for almost 10 years and recently arrived in Ukraine to sell her husband’s apartment.
Kirichenko’s husband Petro was an associateof former Prime Minister Lazarenko, who is currently in jail in the U.S. for money laundering. Lazarenko was a close friend of the Kirichenko family and godfather to one of their granddaughters. But when Lazarenko was tried in the U.S., Kirichenko, who was also charged, made a plea bargain and became the main witness against him. Since then the Kirichenkos have lived in San Francisco.
It is believed that Isabella Kirichenko is now being held in a Kyiv prison.
Two Ukrainian citizens allegedly detained along with Isabella Kirichenko are her nephew and her real estate broker. The broker had been helping to find buyers for her husband’s property and had recently brought her an order confirming that the arrest on it had been lifted.
Prosecutors allege that this document is forged.
Kirichenko is expected to appear in court on Sept. 5 in connection with the charges.
The sources said the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv has been informed of the detention and is trying to arrange a meeting. Representatives of the embassy could not be reached for comment. A spokesman for the General Prosecutor’s Office could also not be reached.
The sources said she denies forgery of the document and believes there is a political motive behind her arrest.
